The Real Legend of Korra
by Floofydoug
Summary: Noatak is alive, stronger than ever and Korra doesn't know it, yet! Korra has resolved to become a better Avatar, and Asami has sold Future Industries. Follow all the members of Team Avatar as they go on their separate ways throughout the four nations making new friends and enemies. It really picks up after chapter 5. 5/2013 Also, I've made some edits to the beginning chapters.
1. Chapter 1: Beginnings of a True Legend

The Real Legend of Korra

Chapter 1: The Beginnings of a True Legend

Korra tossed her hair back and stared hard at the horizon. All the other Avatars that had been around her just moments before disappeared, leaving her all alone. Well, almost alone. Mako was behind her. He had just seen her in Avatar State and fifteen minutes prior… had just professed his love to her.

If she had been the same girl she was fifteen minutes ago, she would've jumped in his arms. If she had been the same girl two months ago, she would've jumped in his arms and kissed him until her lips were raw. But she wasn't. She was empowered by the avatars before her and she had to be selfless. She knew there was a time when she could settle down, but her instincts told her it wasn't now. Her heart called to all the people who were in dire need of help.

Mako took a step forward and started first, "Korra, are you okay?"

She averted his eyes and stepped past him, "I'm fine."

"Wait, what just happened?" He paused. "How did you get your bending back, Korra? And...Why are you walking … away?"

Korra stopped and cleared her throat from the words that were choking her back. She didn't want to say it, but it was true.

She looked back, "Mako, you're an amazing guy, but right now… there isn't room in my heart for you."

She gritted her teeth, walked back to her home, and didn't look back. That had sounded much better in her head than out loud. But there were more important things to do. She went straight to her room to meditate on what she had seen. She now understood how to unlock the bending Ki within a person, but was not all. There was trouble brewing outside the fire nation. Avatar Roku had shown her a glimpse of villages with all the inhabitants dead—sprawled out on the streets. Long caravans of families were waiting outside the Fire Nation's walls hoping to get inside. Avatar Aang had pointed towards the Northern Air Temple, probably indicating that there were people taking refuge there. Or perhaps the cause was there, Korra didn't know. She didn't get to look for long before Avatar Kyoshi had changed the scenario to the Ba Sing Se. There, thousands of people were working to build a massive wall. It was enormously high, and Avatar Aang placed a hand on her shoulder saying, "It goes from the Chameleon Bay to Kappa's Umi." Then, she had seen buildings burning in the slums of Omashu.

Within the Kingdom of Ba Sing Se, Korra had seen other Equalist rallies. They had probably not heard the recent news of Amon. Avatar Roku said the same was happening in the Fire Nation.

Korra sat cross-legged around the fire and continued to think about what she could do. She couldn't believe that she had been so narrow-minded the past few months. Her life had just revolved around Republic City. She was sure that Avatar Aang had a much more open-minded view of the world by the time he was her age. She was bitter at herself for getting caught up in the Bending Arena and for being so helpless up until now. She knew she could do better.

She was a full-fledged Avatar now. Her duty was not to Republic City. Her duty was between the four nations. The large flames died to a low ember by the time Korra finished making up her mind about her plans. She stepped outside to where two servants of the White Lotus had been stationed. Their cowl was wrapped tightly around their faces to keep out the frost.

"Please send word to Lin Beifong that I would like restore her bending first thing tomorrow morning by Lady Katara's tent."

"Y-Yes, as you wish, Avatar Korra." The man hurried away into the white night.

* * *

Mako couldn't sleep. Every other time he closed his eyes, he saw Korra's pretty face. And every other time he closed his eyes, he saw Asami's broken heart. Somehow, even though he had no idea where he stood with Asami now, his mind knew that he had definitely wronged Asami. This was a curious battle between a man's heart and his own mind. Mako slipped a fur coat, donned a pair of southern water boots, and stepped outside.

One of the members from the White Lotus jogged by shouting for Lin Beifong.

* * *

Lin Beifong couldn't sleep either. After hearing the news, she stayed up all night. The Avatars can take bending, give bending... is there anything that the Avatar cannot do?

* * *

Somewhere west of Omashu, a body floated onto the shores of the Earth Kingdom. The waves lapped over the body as if urging it to wake up.

_Pain. _Noatak opened his eyes and the wind blew sand into them. _Broken ribs. _The waves crashed again and he opened them in the salt water to wash out the sand. _It burned like his back._ He quickly did a body check starting with his toes. _Broken leg, dislocated shoulder, broken ribs, and a burn wound across the entire back. _Noatak writhed in the sand with his good hand, struggling to pull himself away from the salty water.

_This is it. This is how the most powerful bloodbender the world ever knew dies. _He was about to give up, take a final breath and let go when Korra's face flashed into his mind. The look on her face when the lucky Avatar managed to airbend at the last second. He clenched his fist. _NO! This cannot be how it ends!_ His rage fueled him, the anger he always had boiled his blood, and he forced his own legs to work. The ocean lapped at his body urging him and reminding him what pain feels like. He had blood-bended to heal himself before, but never this way. His legs didn't work properly, but that didn't matter. _He welcomed the pain. _He blood-bended himself above the sands to look around. There was a nearby cave.

_Perfect._

* * *

Above the beach from the cliffs above, an Omashu sentry guard guard thought he saw a man's body hover above the waves like a wandering ghost. He thought he saw the feet dangling as if the body had been recently hung. He moved the wall searchlight to the body, but there was nothing there.

The guard sighed. He needed more sleep.


	2. Chapter 2: Tea,Gifts,and Something Else

Chapter 2: Tea, Gifts, and Something Else

Katara's tent was the biggest in the village. Some people said that it took over a thousand pelts to build. Korra thought it would take more. She wanted to peek inside to explore the huge tent, but Korra stood by the entrance outside waiting for Lin Beifong. There were several others from the tribe who had heard the news and gathered; interested to see the miracles of the Avatar.

Katara poked her head outside and invited Korra inside, "Come sit, Korra." She hung a kettle over the fire and pulled some ice from the entrance into the pot without looking.

She continued, "I've learned a great deal of things in my lifetime... Do you know what the most important thing I've learned is, child?"

Korra shook her head.

Old lady Katara laughed, "It's that a hot cup of tea is the best way to start your mornings."

A few minutes later Korra had a warm cup in her hands, and she was sipping on it outside. The tea reminded her how much she had missed her home while she had been in the city. The crowd of people had also grown.

* * *

Lin Beifong didn't sleep at all. She was about to put the steel armor on so that she could test her powers when she would get her bending back, but just touching her armor made her put it back down. The cold armor chilled her to the bone and she opted for the fur coat instead.

She stepped outside of the guest tent and was surprised to see the water tribe already clamoring about. She thought she was early. It wasn't like she slept in.

It turns out that news spreads quickly in a small tribe. Everyone had heard about the new Avatar's powers. Lin Beifong headed to Katara's tent. The small crowd outside made way for her and easily let her through. They were quiet, and Korra looked very different. It was quite a thing to see a child from yesterday become an adult.

The Avatar had Lin kneel facing upwards just as Amon did. A great fear surged over her reminding her how horrible it was when her bending was taken. This time, however, Korra stood in front of her, and the fear ebbed. Korra closed her eyes, and placed her thumb pointing downwards onto Lin's forehead.

The world around Lin shutdown and it was as if she were inside her own mind. Korra was besides her struggling to bend an ice gate open.

"_Lin, we must open your connection to your ki. This is your mind and it has been closed off by Amon. I'm sure all water-benders who had lost their powers could do it themselves if I showed them where this gate is." _

"_I don't know how I could help you. I am not a water-bender, Korra." _

"_This is your mind, Lin. You can make anything here!" _

_Lin summoned earth around them and created the largest boulder she could muster. She hurled it at the gate and it cracked. Korra worked from the cracked ice and melted it to water. The ki started to pour through the cracks. At first it was a little trickle and then..._

Lin opened her eyes. She could sense the earth again. It was deep beneath the snow and ice below them. _They're about 12 to 15 meters below_. She pulled as hard as she could.

_The ki rushed through the gate_

Ten large spires pushed their way through the tundra's surface. The crowd cheered for the former chief of police. They cheered for their Avatar. Bolin ran over and hugged Korra.

KORRA! KORRA!

THE GREATEST HEALER THAT HAS EVER LIVED!

Katara smiled and went back inside for her tea.

A wave of relief washed over Korra. It felt pretty good to have your name chanted. All of those benders who had their powers stripped away from them could have bending skills restored.

The rest of the day went by quickly. There were so many neighbors that Korra hadn't seen in months, and she had to visit everyone. Well, it wasn't so much that she _had_ to visit everyone, it was just that every person she visited seemed to have a gift for her-and Korra liked gifts.

Korra received dried squid from Yumi's family, Tenzin's airbender's kite, a new pair of wolf-lion gloves from Old Lady Nini, and an old fire-nation sailcloth leftover from the children of the village with the help of Jinora, Ikki, and Meelo had decorated the sail and covered the fire-insignia with the southern water-tribe emblem instead.

When she asked one of the little boys what she was supposed to do with such a large gift, he beamed and pointed at her tent.

"Itsha cover for yor hous!"

She laughed. It would look ridiculous.

Dried fish, a loaf of bread, a canteen of water, a small knife, a map, and Tenzin's kite. It had been modeled after Aang's, but was much larger to accommodate a middle-aged man. Korra couldn't wait to try it out.

_I don't need anything else do I? _

She looked around at her small tent. She had a collection of hair beads in a small clay jar that her mother and the other women of the village always gave to her. She never needed any other ones besides the two she always wore. She laid down on her snow-leopard skin bed and curled into a ball for a quick nap.

During dinner Korra had told Tenzin, Mako, Bolin, and Lin her plans about travelling to Ba Sing Se and her latest instructor did not object. It was about time for her to experience the rest of the world. Pema was clearly worried, but got up to tend Rohan's hungry cries. It was a shame Pema had to leave, because Korra's mother, Senna, had cooked up quite a meal. In the center was a large pot of seaweed noodles, much better than the best shop in Republic City. Korra thought the seaweed noodles were just automatically more authentic being in her mother's cooking pot. When next to that were several fried sea crabs seasoned enough so that no matter how many times Korra licked her fingers, the flavor was still there. Tonraq, her father, entertained the guests with a story from his childhood.

"...The hens were mysteriously disappearing each night. Nobody had any idea where they were going. There were rumors that Nini's family had been stealing them and the kids were saying that the Abdominable Snowman was eating them..."

Bolin choked on his food.

Skeptical, Asami asked, "So what did you do?".

"Well, I was just about to turn fourteen-about to become a real man, you see. I figured someone in the village had to solve this mystery so I stayed up for two nights guarding the arctic hens. The night before my Ice-Dodging rite, the snow leopard came. It was huge!"

Bouin was wide-eyed. "Didja kill it, sir?"

Her father nodded. "When it saw me I think it realized that I would be a lot more food than a hen. It lunged at me and gave me this."

He pulled his left sleeve back and revealed a long scar from the outside of his forearm to the inside of his bicep. Senna smiled. She knew her husband loved telling this story.

Tonraq continued, "It knocked me over and jumped at me again, but I grabbed his throat with my right hand and held it as tight as I could. With my other hand I got out my knife and it was over in a couple seconds, really. Katara even declared me a man before my Ice Dodging ritual because your mother took so long healing me." He grinned and looked over at Senna.

Korra returned to her tent to gather her things and looked around one last time trying to figure out what she'd forgotten. Then it hit her and Korra literally face-palmed.

_A bed!_


	3. Chapter 3: Going Places

Chapter 3: Going Places

They must have been a couple hundred meters above the water. Korra peered over the side of the basket and shuddered at the thought of falling. Despite her probably being able to survive the fall, the fact that they were being suspended by nothing but air made her feel a little nervous.

Mako breathed more fire into the balloon. They rose a little higher. It was his suggestion that they make the balloon. He knew Korra wasn't going to use the flax sailcloth for her tent. This way, at least the water tribe children's gift would be put to good use.

Earlier that day Korra had intended to travel using Tenzin's kite, but the cold winds nipped at any exposed skin. Frost clung to her fur coat and forced her to return to the farewell crowd. Bolin was the first to greet her, and told her that a telegram came while she was about to head out. In a recent election at Republic City, Korra had been nominated for Councilman Tarlock's position... and she had won by a landslide.

Korra's face changed from disappointment to frustration. She didn't say anything and sat cross-legged on the snow for a bit. Anxiously, Bolin waited for Korra's response, but to fill in the silence he suggested, "We... could offer Pabu to be your representative?"

She perked up. "Thats brilliant!"

And this time it was Bolin's turn to look worried. "But Korra, I was just kidding. Fire Ferrets make terrible decisions!"

Korra laughed. "No, silly. You will be my representative!"

And this time Bolin looked even more worried. "ME? I think Pabu was a better choice..."

Korra got up and put both hands on his shoulders. "Please, do this for me, Bolin. I'll make it up to you when I return to Republic City, but right now there are some things I have to check out and it requires my immediate attention."

Bolin had been staring at his feet, but when Korra touched his shoulder he flinched a little and looked back into her eyes. And she smiled-a very pretty smile. _Oh, by Kyoshi's grave!__ Girls always get what they want. _

"Alright, fine. I'll do it, for you, Korra. But promise to send me a message as soon as you can. I dunno how long I'll last with," He paused and looked around, "...Adults!"

Korra reassured him that he would do fine and promised him to give him an address whenever she could. She knew she had to get the updates somehow, but Korra was unsure how long she would be staying in one place.

"Hey, Korra!" Korra and Bolin both stopped talking and looked. Mako was dragging something pretty large from her tent. She hadn't even noticed he left the group. And that was when Mako told them his idea.

"You want to do what?" Bolin was incredulous.

Mako calmly replied, "Like I said, we're going to make a hot air balloon." He started to unfold the decorated sailcloth Korra had been given.

"And who is _We_?" Korra asked.

"You won't be able to firebend it all day y'know," he said. "I'm coming with you and we'll take turns."

Korra was hesitant, but Mako was right. It was probably safer to travel with someone. She really hoped that Mako wasn't going to take this the wrong way, though.

She sighed and gave in. She looked at Bolin and he shrugged. Bolin clapped his brother on the back, and headed back into his guest tent.

So the two would-be travellers set off to find rope and materials for the balloon. It took more than half the day, so that by the time they were inflating the balloon, most of the village were inside preparing their dinner. It was probably a good thing too. Korra was having trouble keeping a steady flame while Mako held the balloon open. Firebending against an opponent is easy. All she had to do was blast them as hard as she could until they got burned or gave up. Lighting a balloon requires much more finesse than she was used to.

Eventually, the balloon started to rise and the two hopped in. The sun was already setting, and the smoke from each tent was rising as each Southern Tribe Family prodded their fires to keep them warm throughout the night. Korra was on her knees peering over the edge with only her eyes showing. It was as if she thought that if even her nose was outside the basket, the entire balloon would topple over. The homes were getting smaller and smaller until she could see the entire tribe in view without having to move her head. Mako stopped heating the balloon and stood at the edge next to her. It was then that Korra realized how small the basket was.

Korra couldn't lie down. Mako offered to let her sleep first, and she had gladly taken the opportunity. But she couldn't find a comfortable spot. She ended up curling into a ball, and taking up half the basket.

She woke up to a gentle shake on her arm. Mako handed her the compass, took off his boots, and propped his legs over the basket. He was asleep on his back before Korra had even figured out how he had been steering the balloon. They were headed North and a couple degrees East. Korra checked her map. They should be over the forsaken lands of the Air Temples by mid-day tomorrow at their current speed.

Korra began creating a small air current behind the balloon. When she was comfortable at that pace, she increased the the currents until her hair was streaming along with the winds. It was tiring work, but she welcomed the opportunity to practice her airbending.

Now, they should be there at the Air Temple before first light.

* * *

Bolin went back inside his tent and carefully unfolded the telegram. Korra's position included the councilman's chambers and all sorts of city benefits. He wasn't sure if the city would even accept Korra's proposal, but as long as he is representing Korra, and that he had the letter she had written him, he should be allowed to take her place...

Bolin headed out to the Southern Water Tribe's port to check on the next available boat. The port consisted of a single wooden dock extending about 20 meters to the water. There were several wooden canoes, but nothing that would make it across the South and Mo Ce Sea ...efficiently. The next available cargo ship wasn't due until the end of next week.

His shoulder's drooped and he slumped against the icy wall lining the village.

_How am I going to get back to Republic City now? _He knocked a small icicle hanging from the edge onto the ground and it shattered into little fragments on the ground. He crushed the smallest one under his foot, and he started to leave when a large shadow of a sky bison casted over him.

_Oogi! Im sure Tenzin can give me a lift with his sky bison! _

Bolin hurried back to where Tenzin's guest tent was to ask for a ride.


	4. Chapter 4: Zombie at the Camp

Chapter 4: Zombie at the Camp

Oogi had a hard time taking off with everyone's items. Tenzin had to leave everyone's baggage behind and pay an exorbitant amount in baggage shipping. It was even more difficult because the fishermen in the village still used Water Tribe money or only took gold and silver. His precious Yuan seemed to mean nothing to them.

Tenzin made a mental note. _H'oh!_ _I swear on the last Lion Turtle's life that the first bill I pass when I get back home... is some sort of currency standardization act!_

Rohan had a special crib attached to Oogi that Tenzin made himself. They had all left shortly after eating a quick meal and the group was sound asleep by the time the sky bison had reached a decent altitude. Pema shuffled over from beside Rohan's crib over to her husband. She gave him a quick kiss on cheek and rested her head on his shoulder and tried to sneak in as much sleep as she could before Rohan would want another meal.

Asami was just resting. She wasn't asleep, but wasn't in much of a mood to talk either. When Pema had crawled from the crib over to her husband, Asami couldn't help but pity her. She was clearly an example of a wife oppressed by benders. Pema had given childbirth to Rohan alone, while Tenzin was out battling other benders. On top of that, Asami tried to imagine the fear and suffering Pema faced when her family was taken from her by Amon. Asami didn't know what to think. She knew her father was wrong. What her father, Hiroshi Sato, did was inexcusable and evil, but something had to be done. Normal people like Pema should not have to live their lives in fear of what benders do. Asami looked over at Meelo and the boy was sprawled out asleep without a care in the world. Someday, that boy will be a threat to others. Asami imagined what school would be like for him- how easily he would be tempted to lie, steal, and cheat with the advantages he was born with over the other children.

She sighed. Something had to be done.

* * *

Meanwhile, Korra and Mako had been looking for a good place to land on the Patola Mountain Range when Mako accidentally burnt a hole in the side of the balloon trying to toast his bread. The low hanging clouds had made it very difficult to see, so Mako had simply wanted a snack. The ensuing panic went a little like this:

"AAIEEEEEEEeeeeeee!" (Mako)

"uh oh..." (Korra)

"YOUR FAULT, MAKO! DO SOMETHING!"

"I CAN'T AIRBEND! YOU CAN!"

Mako went to the opposite side and unleashed a large bursts of flames to counteract the force of released air until Korra managed to bend a seal of air around the opening. Just when the pair thought their troubles were over, the bottom of the basket began tearing. Mako grabbed most of their belongings, but their food provisions fell through. Korra and mako were clinging to the side of the basket. Korra kicked two holes into the side of the basket to rest her feet and Mako did the same.

Below them was a large spike protruding from the top of an ancient looking building. The spike they managed to land on was one of 6 others, and one of the shortest from the surrounding buildings.

Korra hopped off onto the roof of the building and slid off the dome shaped building. The first thing she noticed was that the weather around her was much warmer than higher up in the air. She removed her winter coat and hung it over her shoulders. She took several steps back to look at the place and she felt an immediate pang of sadness. She saw images of what Jongmu Temple used to be like in the past. She knew that Aang probably wanted to keep this a safe place as a preservation for his own memories. Mako was still collecting their things from the roof, and Korra wanted him to see this. While she waited for him to climb down, she marveled the old architecture and tried to imagine what life was like at the temple hundreds of years prior.

Thick amounts of vegetation were growing around the temple, on the temple, and in some windows, plants leaned out from inside.

"Hey Korra, there's a trail that leads up to the main entrance over here."

Korra looked over and could barely even see Mako through the brush. He hadn't stopped to stare at the building for half a second. She tried to follow his voice. The so-called "trail" consisted of smaller bushes and ferns instead of large trees, but Mako was right, it did lead up to the steps of Jongmu Temple. Korra and Mako quietly walked quietly up the steps of the temple and pushed gently on the main door. It swung open effortlessly.

Ahead, there was a sanctuary door, which Korra knew to be a sophisticated contraption meant for skilled airbenders. Korra didn't hesitate and crossed the room ready to tackle the airbending puzzle.

Mako thought the whole place quite creepy. His ancestors had committed genocide in this room many years past. The entire world might have lost airbending, if the Avatar himself had not been an airbender in his past life. He looked at Korra and wondered if she was really just Aang and Aang was just Roku. He shook that thought out of his head, because that was even creepier than this temple. He loved Korra. He didn't know Aang or Roku, but he was pretty sure he wouldn't love them the same way.

The stupid contraption must have broken over the years. Korra could not get the door to open.  
Frustrated, she banged her fist against the door and tried to earthbend some rock from beneath the floor to knock the door down. The door held its own, and Korra gave up.

Mako stepped in. "Here let me try."

Korra rolled her eyes. "Where was your airbending _earlier_?"

Ignoring Korra, Mako created two small embers beneath the contraption, and played with the flames until some air pressure was built inside some of the tubes and then he created two very large flames that sent the warm flow of air throughout the lock and the door swung open.

Mako hadn't expected that to work on the first try. _No wonder they all died..._

Korra stepped in and spun around. The walls were lined with statues of previous Avatars. She didn't recognize them all, but she understood that they were all somehow a part of her in the past. She recognized the most recent: Yangchen, Kuruk, Kyoshii, and Roku. Aang's statue wasn't here. Instead, there was a sphere of ice, with a pebble frozen inside of it. Korra had thought it was a glass orb at first, but when she touched it, it was terribly cold compared to the summer heat around them. Next to the ice orb read, "For My Love, Avatar Aang 12BSC-153ASC"

Each time she looked into where the eyes of the statues, she would see her own eyes, and they flashed a quick memory into her mind about her past life. Korra really didn't know what to do with all of the memories, and eventually she had enough. Now it was as if she had several other parents on top of her own, and she felt quite lost. The memories were all such beautiful ones with no regard to time, so it was hard to gauge how much time had passed between each one.

Mako heard a strange noise from one of the rooms upstairs. It was a low moaning sound, and he immediately thought of zombies rising from the grave. Korra was still in the sanctuary having her alone time so he thought it would be fun to investigate, but he couldn't afford to back out and call for help now. He was a man. Men handle these things on their own. But, he reasoned that if there were a lot of zombies, he would run as fast as he can and call for help.

The moaning got louder and louder, and it sounded pretty strong. Mako could feel vibrations coming from around the corner. Mako took a deep breath and turned the corner ready to strike the zombie horde.

A small sky bison had its head stuck in one of the windows trying to eat one of the moon peaches from a tree growing within the hall.

Mako plucked some moon peaches and fed it to the sky bison, and the bison licked his face and demanded more. Mako plucked almost all the fruit from the tree and fed them to the bison one by one until it was content. Mako wondered why it didn't just break the wall of the temple and fly off so he climbed outside onto its back and saw that most of the bison's fur had tangled with some terrible thorns from tanglevines and that it was digging into the young bison's skin. Mako burned parts of the fur that had been knotted with the tanglevines being careful not to singe the poor animal.

Mako climbed over the sky bison's head back into the hallway. He then positioned his left and right palm against the stone siding of the window and blasted it as hard as he could. The stone siding broke apart and debris flew everywhere.

Korra heard the explosion from upstairs and hurried up the stairs.

"Mako! Are you okay?"

She turned the corner and saw Mako get licked in the face by a young sky bison. It was about half the size of Tenzin's. It was extremely cute with the brown stripes just maturing, but it was hurt. She could see the fur soaking up blood from the thorns that were stuck all over its body. Korra drew some water from her canteen and started to heal the poor creature.

Mako told Korra about how he had expected a zombie around the corner, and Korra laughed. Zombie was the perfect name for the sky bison, because the uneven fur and patches of skin and bloody fur made the sky bison look much like a Zombie Sky Bison if there ever was one. But she couldn't call him Zombie. All the previous sky bison had names with 4 letters and vowels on either end... _Appa, Oogi._

Korra announced her decision. "His name will be Ombi." The sky bison liked the name and gave her a lick on the face too.

Korra was excited. They had found a companion in the Air Temple just like how the stories told Avatar Aang had found the last flying lemur when he visited the Air Temple.

When Korra was done healing the sky bison, it flew out the large gap where the window used to be and waited for them. Korra and Mako climbed onto the Sky Bison and it descended from the Air Temple down below the mountain range.

Zombie flew for several minutes and stopped by a waterfall. It then proceeded to bathe in it, so Mako and Korra decided that Ombi must have wanted them to camp there. Korra refilled their canteens at the top of the falls, while Mako searched for firewood and game.

That night, while the fire slowly died, Korra lay awake staring at Ombi and couldn't help herself from smiling at the baby sky bison and how lucky they all were for finding each other. She and Mako definitely needed a sky bison after their hot air balloon debacle, and she was sure Ombi would have been in trouble if their balloon hadn't been destroyed. Sleeping like this was much better than being on a balloon anyways. Mako pretended to roll in his sleep and pretended that he didn't even notice holding Korra. Korra lifted her head slightly, but pretended she didn't care. It was nice to be held every so often.


	5. Chapter 5: Powerful Men

Chapter 5: Powerful Men

Korra woke up to a gentle kiss on her face. Half asleep, she smiled, but tried to push Mako's face away. Instead, her hands touched something wet, and she bolted upright to find Ombi licking her face. It was dawn and the birds were all chirping going about doing business. Mako had turned, sleeping with his back to her sometime in the night.

The Avatar rolled up her snow-leopard skin bed. Ombi was now trying to wake up Mako. Korra went to the stream and washed the sleep from her eyes. The camp was too close to the waterfall for her to fish, so she walked a little further downstream to where the water was calmer. Then, with her left hand in the water, she flicked the surface of the water with her index finger to create ripples. She concentrated on the water movement, and she could feel all the things in the water that the ripples touched.

Korra walked back to the camp with three large fish trapped in a bubble of water. Mako felt embarrassed, because the previous night they had gone to bed without much food. He had found more moon peaches, which their new friend enjoyed. Korra took out her small knife and quickly gutted the fish and found small sticks to skewer them. Mako added more wood to the fire and kicked up a large flame to get it going.

The fish's skin crackled and some of the oil dripped when Mako bit into it. He was definitely hungry and it was much better than the dried stuff they had been eating all yesterday. He offered the third fish to Zombie, but the sky bison refused to eat it. Instead, it turned around and grazed on grass. Mako shrugged. _M__ore for me, then. _

Korra was planning out the rest of the travels. She wanted to get to Ba Sing Se in two days, but she was afraid Zombie wouldn't be able to handle that much flying with two people on its back. If only she had Oogi.

"Hey Mako. Where do you want to stop? Omashu or the Abbey?"

"Omashu... probably. Why would we stop at the Abbey? Do you want to get perfume?"

"Oh. I think Tenzin's sister is there. He mentioned Kya was working with the Order of the White Lotus on something."

"I dunno, Korra. I've always liked cities more."

Korra laughed._ This city boy... _and then she said, "Okay. Well, I know the Earth Kingdom still uses gold and silver, so hopefully there is a Republic City Bank there so we can exchange Yuan."

They would travel to Omashu in a day. And from there, head out to Ba Sing Se and check out the enormous wall being built that Kyoshi showed her.

* * *

Bolin gripped the piece of paper that Korra had written and nervously knocked on City Hall's doors. He had not read the letter, but wanted to very badly. Korra was especially keen on sealing the envelope. _Oh, please let this work. _He didn't want to let Korra down and he really wanted the councilman benefits. _If this doesn't work, I don't know what to say to Korra... "Oh by the way, you have to come back to the city"..._

The City Hall door was answered by the city maid and Bolin was ushered in. There were only two other council members on the board, and Tenzin was not in yet. The firebender councilwoman was missing, and Bolin guessed she was a victim of the recent Republic City attacks. He had heard the Equalists targetted the Council first.

The Earthbender council member stood up. "Excuse me, young man. What are you doing here?"

Bolin fumbled with his note. "Oh! I am here representing Korra while she is... um... out checking on international affairs," Bolin looked back at the elder and added, "sir."

The Waterbender council member also stood up. "May I examine the letter?"

Bolin nodded and reached over the table to hand him the note.

_23rd Day of Summer 170ASC_

_To The Esteemed Members of City Council: _

_I, Korra the Avatar, hereby appoint Bolin, professional bender and city hero, to be my representative on the council. Bolin is optimistic, speaks his mind, and will add an important perspective to the council-seeing as your meetings are a prime example of groupthink. If you should reject my proposal for Bolin to be on the council then I, Korra, hereby resign from my position of Chairwoman, councilwoman for Republic City and nominate Bolin for re-elections. I hope you understand that an Avatar's duties are essential to the four nations of the world, and not merely Republic City's. I wish Republic City the best until my return. _

_Thank you, _  
_Korra, Avatar_

_P.S: _  
_Also, You should listen to our Dad more._

_Thank you,_  
_Ikki, Daughter of Councilman Tenzin _  
_Meelo, Son of the Most Powerful Man Alive_

The Waterbender councilman walked around the table and shook Bolin's hand. "Welcome to City Hall Council. I am Karthus."

The Earthbender walked around the table from the other direction and also shook Bolin's hand. "And I am Jun Kun. Welcome again. We will need a female representative..."

Bolin blinked. _Oh. Well, that was easier than I thought! _

* * *

Asami looked at the ruined factory that was once Future Industries. Her home beside it had been been vandalized and there were noticeable death threats etched onto some of the cars still on the line. It was understandable.

Asami went inside and packed some of her belongings. She didn't know what to do, or how she was going to restore Future Industries. She needed a drink.

Asami changed into a white summer dress, picked up a hat, and took the keys to one of the prototype race cars in the basement. She drove to the speakeasy that her father frequented before the days she learned about his terrible secrets.

_I guess he always had many secrets. I thought I knew them all..._

The doorkeeper casually asked her, "What's the weather supposed to be like tomorrow?"

Asami replied, "Hot like volcanoes and raining dinosaurs, I suppose."

The doorkeeper smiled and pulled a lever revealing a swiveling door behind him. Asami stepped through and it took a second to adjust to the brightly lit room decorated by a large red velvet carpet. Three towering chandeliers, twenty round tables, and a beautifully carved oak bar deemed this speakeasy a social hideout only for the rich. There were only a couple other guests in the room, probably because it wasn't even the afternoon yet. A soft beat from an Earth Kingdom drum played in the background accompanied by a saxophone. Asami sat down at the bar and waited for the bartender to finish drying wine glasses.

The bartender turned around, "Ah! If it isn't the lovely Miss Asami. What can I get for you, darling?"

"A strawberry and skooma to start, please." Asami knew she was going to be here for a while. "Have you seen Morgan around, TsingTao?"

The bartender cringed and placed the cold drink in front of his guest. "Please don't drop that name so lightly, Miss. That man lent your father a lot of money for his endeavors and a lot of people are bitter about that."

Asami took a sip. "Can I get some Jennamite on this, please?"

TsingTao nodded. "Well, actually he has been coming in everyday for dinner since the recent attacks. I believe he lost his wife in the revolution he funded. I hear he's been buying up land and his car sales are doing great too. He might be the most powerful man in the city now."

Asami downed her drink and asked to see the menu. Looks like she will be staying for lunch and dinner too.


	6. Chapter 6: Money and Plans

Chapter 6: Money and Plans

Mako sat behind Korra while Ombi cruised towards Omashu. He had tried to place his hands over Korra's hips while they were riding, but the Avatar glared back at him with icy eyes so he backed off.

It was still a long ways to Omashu and Mako leaned back and closed his eyes.

* * *

The speakeasy was a little noisier with more guests. There were a group of flappers making a ruckus by the sax player. The Earth Kingdom drummer pounded the drum louder to drown out their laughter, but the women held no restraint. They gossiped and danced and drank to their heart's content.

Asami envied them, but at the same time thought it was nice to see other people still enjoying themselves. She watched the group until her eyes caught Morgan entering the room. He was an old man with white hair. He had a white moustache that grew out to his sideburns, but had shaved his beard. To top it off, he carried a wooden cane and donned a black top hat. He looked very familiar to a children's board game mascot that involved property investment and banking if he had a monocle.

Asami got up and carried her sixth drink of the day with her. She seated herself across from Morgan and the old man slowly lowered his menu. He put on his monocle, looked at his new guest, and scowled. "What in the name of the late Fire Lord Zuko do you think you're pulling, young girl?"

Asami didn't flinch. Her drinks had bought her courage. "Morgan, I have come to you with a proposition to sell you Future Industries."

Morgan dropped the menu and laughed so hard that the music stopped. "Well then! I haven't laughed like that in a good while. Come back when you have another joke!"

Asami said, "25 million Yuan."

Morgan produced a monocle from his front pocket, cleaned it, and put it on. "Young lady, I understand your company was worth 200 million Yuan before the revolution, but tarnished with your father's involvement with the Equalists, it is worth nothing now."

Asami raised her hand to stop him. "But you see, my father has a number of patents that you have seen showcased. Mechanical robots, planes, bombs, electric gloves, and if you would like to see the new prototype car, I would be glad to show you."

Morgan smoothed his moustache. He had already seen Avatar Korra drive the new car throughout the streets, and it looked very sleek. The weapons interested him greatly. He knew of people overseas that would love to have some. "Asami, I will not pay 25 million Yuan for your company."

Asami quickly replied, "20 million. Acquire it all for a tenth of the cost."

Morgan smiled. The pretty little girl probably didn't even know what assets Future Industries held. "Done."

Asami reached into her dress pocket for a slip of paper and jotted down her bank information. Morgan took it, and reached into his inner jacket pocket for his checkbook. He wrote the check and motioned for a server.

"Boy, go get me a typewriter." Morgan handed the server a fat wad of Yuan. "Whatever you don't use is your tip."

The server pocketed the money and hurried out of the underground joint. Asami started side-conversation with the rich tycoon until the server returned, drenched in sweat, carrying a large typewriter. He placed the machine in front of Morgan and Morgan shooed him away. After several minutes of the mechanical clicking from the typewriter, Morgan produced a sheet of paper. It read:

_26th day of Summer 170 ASC_

_Title: Morgan Inc. Acquisition of Future Industries_

_The following parties, Asami Sato, CEO of Future Industries [Party 1], and Morgan Marwick, CEO and Founder of Morgan Inc.[Party 2] , hereby mutually assure the following: _

_Article 1: That Party 1 will disclose all patents, information, assets, and properties that were formally a part of Future Industries to Party 2. _

_Article 2: That Party 1 agrees to transfer all property and ownership of Future Industries to Party 2. _

_Article 3: That Party 2 agrees to pay in full, a total sum of twenty million (20,000,000) Yuan to Party 1. _

_The above statements were mutually agreed upon by Witness ... ... ... ... ... ,,, ... ... ... at 5:15pm. _

_Signed and Sealed By: _

_Party 1: ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ,,, ..._  
_Asami Sato_  
_CEO of Future Industries_

_Party 2: ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ,,, ..._  
_Morgan Marwick_  
_CEO and Founder of Morgan Inc._

Morgan waved his hand for the same server again and had him sign the "witness" portion. Asami looked over the contract and smiled faintly. She pulled out her own fountain pen and signed the contract in exchange for the little check Morgan held.

Morgan laughed heartily again. "A pleasure doing business with you, Miss Sato."

"No, the pleasure is mine, Morgan. There are few things greater in life than taking a man's money."

Asami picked up her things, and headed out. She needed to cash her check and get the money as far away from Republic City as possible. Morgan would have a fit if he realized he had just bought a company full of debts even with all the money Morgan had loaned her father. A grin came across her face. _At least things went along with the plan for once. _

* * *

Bolin came home from his first day of work and was exhausted. He never imagined listening could be so tiring. Tenzin had spent the whole morning pushing some sort of Currency Standardization Act. Karthus had the hardest time following his logic with a gold standard. The Waterbender councilman could not understand why Water Tribe money was an ineffective means of trade. He demonstrated that whenever he wanted to buy items from the Northern Water Tribe, he simply bought thousands of water beads which he fashioned into Water Tribe money himself for a couple Yuan.

Tenzin was in disbelief at this discovery, because the individual Northern Water Tribe villages had been trying to figure out why their inflation rates had been so high the past couple years.

The latter half of the day Bolin had to sit through the Lieutenant's trial and sentencing. The jury had found "Moustache Guy" guilty of the abduction and ultimately murder of Zhen Lin, the Fire Nation's representative and councilwoman on the United Republic Council, obstruction of justice, and treason against the United Republic. The judge pounded his gavel and sentenced Amon's right-hand man to death by the electric chair.

The Judge asked the Lieutenant. "Sir, would you have any last words?"

The Lieutenant sneered. "Of course. Please be sure to take it all in for my obituary. You should know that Amon had other plans. Plans that he would never even reveal to me. He may be dead, but he had many secrets..."  
The criminal paused to clear his throat. "As for myself, my crimes were war crimes and are only crimes in the eyes of the victor. My doings were my own undoings and they have provided you jobs. Without people like me, the lot of you would have nothing at all to live on. I pray-I pray for a life in which my fate is decided by an equal like my own, and not pitied and harassed by others with greater power."

Jun Kun asked, "Are you finished?"

The Lieutenant nodded slightly but kept his head down. He was moved to the electric chair and Jun Kun turned the dial to the deadliest voltage. After the criminal was securely fastened to the chair, Jun Kun pushed the button. The first wave of electricity jolted the Lieutenant and his muscles spasmed and immediately knocked him out. The second jolt was longer and fried his organs and overworked the heart.

Time of death: 5:14pm.

Bolin wiped his forehead and got ready to leave. _What a crazy first day. Oh, I hope they aren't all like this. I don't know if I can take this much. _He had thought his position would involve more pools and butlers to dry him off after he got out. _I can't believe I sat through a death sentencing on my first day. I wonder if we are any better... he was accused of murder by the people...Oh, but didn't we just murder him in return? _Bolin's hands shook and he stopped to look around. He hadn't even noticed that he had already climbed the stairs to his personal office.

His office was still ruined from when Korra attacked Tarrlok several weeks earlier. Bolin spent a couple minutes Earthbending the wall back so that the waterfall would flow evenly, but he couldn't quite get it. In the end he simply plugged up the spout and smoothed the entire wall over. _Oh._ _Much better. _

Bolin reviewed the reports from Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom over his desk. His brow furrowed as he tried to comprehend everything that he was reading.

_Oh man. _Things were much worse than he had thought.


	7. Chapter 7: What's a Blessing?

I apologize, but I will be on vacation next week, so there will be no chapters. To make up for it, I made this chapter almost twice as long!

You can go back and re-read some of the chapters, as I have made some minor changes. Thank you if you PM'ed me about edits!

* * *

Chapter 7: What's a Blessing?

Noatak tried to focus his blood bending down to the cellular level. _I am a prodigy. I will never surrender. I will NOT die here. _He was hungry and had to stop the bleeding. By withdrawing the water from within his own blood at the surface of his cuts, he could instantly form a layer of scabbing and from there use water healing techniques to smoothen out his skin. He did this all without lifting a finger. However, the external cuts were not the problem. His broken bones demanded attention.

_So hungry. So tired. _

A curious mouse squeaked nearby in the dark cave. Noatak was so weak he heard it first before sensing it. When it came close enough, he mentally blood-bended it by pulling its blood in every direction. The mouse popped as if it were part of a controlled explosion. Noatak was too weak to chew, so he brought the mouse blood nearby him and dehydrated the mouse's blood. With the blood cells dead, he mixed the clean water he had just pulled from the blood back into the remaining dried minerals. Noatak let the dead blood cells float to the top and bended the bottom half of the solution. He waited several minutes before continuing, but he was so hungry, it seemed like an eternity. Next, he pricked himself with his own blood by pulling a drop of blood from his own vein out, and he carefully water-bended a fine thin trickle of the solution he created into his own body.

His stomach still growled, but the hunger ebbed away. His intravenous solution had worked. He left the rodent scraps on the ground to attract other prey. Noatak did this for two days without sleep. He forced himself to stay awake by pricking his own nerves enough so that his pain was greater than the broken bones he was trying to heal. By the end of the second day Noatak was concentrating on the bone marrow to produce more blood. He knew his blood-bending skills were becoming even better than before, the more he concentrated on healing himself.

In fact, Noatak was surpassing blood-bending. When his stomach growled, he pulled the stomach acid away from his body. Noatak had complete control of every function within his body, but it required much concentration to keep up. _No matter, I am a prodigy, _he thought. _No water bender could do this before because they did not possess my skill._ _I was given these skills so that I could realize my dream. I refuse death. _

On the third day, Noatak got up and tested his legs and back. Pain shot through his chest and leg so he blocked his pain receptors temporarily. Noatak continued to hobble along the dark cavern.

Once, he thought of his younger brother, Tarrlok, and the cave seemed to respond to him. Noatak thought it was merely his eyes adjusting to the light so he continued without a second thought. Noatak continued to slowly follow the cave walls, healing himself whenever he stopped to rest. Noatak stopped to rest and thought about his failed plan... his idea for the perfect world…and then the cave blinded him.

His love for the future generations and all those who would enjoy the perfect lives he would help create were somehow linked to the cave. Noatak believed the future generations would never have to face the cruelties that he endured by his father. The horrors of war, and the hatred of others stemming from differences would be a thing of the past. Abominations of terror like himself would cease to exist and the world would finally see peace_. I'm not the villain. I'm just doing what is right._He was doing what was necessary for a non-violent future. Noatak was going to start the war to end all wars...forever. Noatak slumped against the cave wall and laughed. His laugh carried throughout The Cave of Two Lovers and the cave got brighter and brighter. It got so bright to the point that Noatak had to stop thinking about his plans and concentrate on healing in order to see.

The cave opened up to the other side of Omashu. Ahead, Noatak could see a busy road bustling with merchants trying to get into the city to sell their goods. It must have been a particularly busy day with this amount of people. Noatak looked down at his tattered robes and spied a cabbage farmer preoccupied with a small air bison that was eating the farmer's produce. Noatak crept closer and lifted his body using blood bending to avoid noise. When he was in range, Noatak pulled a large amount of blood from the farmer's head to the rest of his body. To be honest, Noatak pulled too strongly, and the farmer would most likely never wake up.

Noatak lifted the straw sack and the remaining cabbages away from the sky bison. He checked to be sure that it wasn't the same animal as the Avatar's mentor. It wasn't. This one was too small and had too few stripes.

Noatak made his way to the road and joined the morning rush hour into the city.

* * *

Korra and Mako rode over the Kolau Mountain range for hours until they saw the great city of Omashu. It was early dawn, and the city was illuminated by lights from above so that it looked like large fire-butterflies- the large bugs that lit up the summer sky in the fire nation glowing in the distance. The city looked very dense and Mako suggested that they let Ombi graze outside the city and the two of them walk into the city together. Korra agreed and Mako reached over to put his arm around the Avatar, but she made no response. Eventually Korra shrugged his arm off of her.

A little hurt, Mako retreated and mentioned his brother. "Do you think Bolin sent you any messages yet?"

"I don't know. I guess we should check Eastern Union when we get into town."

"My brother's probably spending his entire paycheck on food right now."

Korra smiled. Bolin _would _do that. She steered Ombi towards the side of the road. Then she hopped off.

"Stay here okay, Ombi?" The sky bison grunted as if to say yes, but as soon as Korra turned around, Ombi also turned to start walking away. Mako had to stop him by offering the last of the moon peaches he picked from the Southern Air Temple.

Korra found some small vines growing on a small tree and hovered her right hand over them. She could sense the water contained inside the plant and moving ever so slowly within it. Getting in touch with her spiritual side as she had done to get to Avatar State, she persuaded the plant to move along to her will. She water bended the plant to coil around her arms and walked back to Mako and Ombi. Korra fashioned a small leash which held Ombi's back left leg to the tree. The little sky bison could easily get away, but Korra just wanted to let him know his boundaries. Ombi whined a little, but was distracted by a new patch of grass he found that he had been sitting on.

"When'd you learn how to do that?"

Korra was packing and didn't look up. "Just now, I guess."

Mako slung his bag over his shoulder and tossed Korra her rolled up snow-leopard skin bed. Together, they walked the path leading into Omashu.

At the gates, the guards were surprised to see the Avatar and immediately opened the way for Korra and Mako. The city was just waking up as the early-birds of Omashu society were leaving their homes to go to work. Three small children in rags quickly greeted them and asked for change.

Korra didn't have any money on her, and neither did Mako.

The middle child thanked them for their trouble, but she stepped closer and mumbled something else. Mako said, "Excuse me?" and leaned in closer to hear better, but he already fell for it. The oldest had crawled behind Mako. The girl whispering shoved Mako as hard as she could. Mako lost balance and toppled over. Both the youngest and oldest checked Mako's pockets.

The youngest yelled, "Nothing, sis!"

The girl who shoved Mako over scowled and spit on his pants before running off. Mako's hands flared as he held back from blasting the child from a fireball.

Korra just stood there and tried assess the situation and wondered if all the kids in Omashu were like that.

"Thanks for the help, Korra."

Korra grinned. "No problem. I thought you could handle it. Guess I was wrong!"

"Well, the girl just caught me by surprise. But I didn't want to burn the runts to a crisp! They couldn't have been older than 8 or 9!"

Korra airbounced Mako back onto his feet and they wandered into the City Market where many of the shops were just setting up.

"Oh it's the Avatar!" A merchant ran excitedly up to the two. "Welcome to Omashu! I had no idea you were visiting! The King said nothing! Yes, yes, we would've all thrown a parade! How was your travels? Tiring, no?

Korra was about to answer, but the man seemed perfectly fine without her saying a thing, so she simply listened.

"Young man, try some of my fine ale. A companion of the Avatar is always welcome for a drink, even if the sun isn't fully up yet. No better time to drink, I'd say so myself! Now, where are my manners? I forgot to introduce myself! I guess I have many names, but all the merchant folk just call me Bee."

Mako was handed a wooden mug with a sweet beer. He was going to complain that he hadn't yet eaten anything, but couldn't interrupt their cheery fan.

"Now for you miss Avatar, I was hoping to sell these today, but my finest crop of white kiwiberries are yours! Please, you cannot refuse these. Try one, and let me know what you think."

Korra had never even seen such a fruit. It had the shape of a strawberry and was white with no seeds on the outside, but when she bit into the berry, the inside had a ring of red seeds much like how a kiwi would have. The fruit was sweet with a tart aftertaste, but was very delicious.

By now, a small crowd was drawing around Mako, Korra, and their new friend, which they had no name yet. One man bowed and asked to kiss her hand. Korra shook her head and said that sort of treatment are for queens, but not her. The man bent over, kissed her Southern Water Tribe boots, and asked her to keep him and his family safe. He left a small wooden carving of King Bumi by her feet.

Things started to get out of control as soon as one person finished paying their respect or asking favors from Korra, so Mako stepped in and ordered everyone to form a line. Many people simply wanted to give Korra small offering of food, and soon, she had a large pile of gifts behind her. Then, a mother carrying her child around her arms stepped forward.

"Avatar Korra, I have heard that you can restore bending. Can you please bless my child, as today is her 8th month. Please grant her the gift of power, so that she is never oppressed."

Korra responded, "I have restored and returned bending, but I have never tried creating a power that did not exist. I can try, ma'am, but please do not expect anything."

The mother extended her arms and Korra closed her eyes and placed her thumb downwards onto the baby's forehead. She connected with her spirit and the baby's while focusing on energy-bending. Korra focused on her own energy to make sure that it was stable before entering the infant's mind.

Instantly, Korra knew she had wandered into a mistake. The baby's mind was not structured. It demanded to be fed, but it was not really a demand. It was a drive. There were drives for touch, love, affection, and urinating. Navigating through to find the Ki source was extremely difficult, but Korra felt like she had to give the mother what she asked for, since Korra agreed. So, Korra pushed onward until she found an energy gate.

The gate was completely sealed off and Korra used her own energy to force it open. Immediately, the flow of Ki began rushing out, but it was wild and uncontrolled. Korra exited the infants mind and woke to find it crying at full volume. The other merchants gasped as its hands and feet were fire bending, but without technique so that it was burning itself. The area smelled a little of burning flesh. The mother had severe burns on her from holding onto her baby since she forced herself to hold onto her child after it scorched her.

The mother was holding back tears of pain, and nodded to Korra before walking away.

Korra felt terrible, but didn't have much time to think about it before four city guards approached her.

"Avatar Korra, the king would like to see you. Please follow us."

Mako looked at all the gifts. As if reading his mind, the guard said, "Do not worry. We will send palace servants to fetch those."

And Mako looked at Bee. The guard frowned. "Was he with you too? Alright then, if the Avatar allows it, of course."

Korra nodded. She began following the guards when she felt a chill run down her back. She looked over at an alleyway and thought she saw Amon wearing his mask in black robes. Korra ran over bracing herself for battle. The guards were following her, but when she reached the alleyway, there was nothing there.

* * *

Noatak found Bon Ni and Cloud rather easily. The two had been put in charge of the Equalist movement in Omashu, but they had gotten little progress compared to their Equalist brothers and sisters out in Ba Sing Se.

"Aw, but Boss, you don't understand! The Agni Kai Triads are super strong!" Cloud complained.

"Yeah! Super strong!" Chimed in Bon Ni.

Noatak was disappointed. Cloud didn't quite live up to his name.

Cloud continued. "We here holding up one of the banks to get the money we needed for a demonstration, when the Agni Kai Triads showed up! They tied us up! They tied the city guards up! They beat the bankers and made off with the money we were going to steal!"

Bon Ni gave several "mmhmm's" while Cloud talked and nodded several more times in confirmation of his story.

Noatak didn't know what the Lieutenant was thinking letting these two spread word in Omashu. He remembered that he specified that Ba Sing Se was more important, but he hadn't meant to completely give up on Omashu.

"So tell me then, what have you two been doing?"

Cloud pulled out a mask from his robes and whipped it on. "We've been making masks! TA DAH!"

Bon Ni reached for her's and echoed, "TA DAH!"

Out of the corner of his eye, Noatak saw the Korra, The girl that stood in the way of his plans and foiled years of his work. His blood boiled, and she looked over. Noatak quickly blood-bended the two of his followers against the wall and slowly levitated themselves up and against the building. When the Avatar got to the alley, they were just nearly at the top fo the brick building and Korra never bothered to look up.

Bon Ni and Cloud were holding their breathes and exhaled in unison.

Noatak asked, "Where are the Agni Kai Triad headquarters? I think I would like to be recruited."


	8. Chapter 8: Taking the Chance

Chapter 8: Taking the Chance

Korra began to worry if perhaps she should have shown some more diplomacy and visited the Omashu's King first before wandering around the city. As she followed the guards, she noticed that the city was extremely well planned out. Chutes that had spread across the city a century before for a mailing system now stored power lines and telegraph cables. Newer stone pipes beneath the chutes had also been recently installed. For Republic City to claim itself the most technologically advanced city might be a stretch. Omashu seemed right on par with the new metropolis.

Mako was walking side-by-side with Korra towards the Earth King's palace. His hand was just a few centimeters away from Korra's. _If I just moved a little closer or reached out a little further, it could mean something entirely different. _

A gentle touch brushed by her hand. Korra froze for a split second, and Mako's fingers reached out to hold hers. She panicked a little and clenched her jaw. _, Honestly, not now, Mako!_ Korra dropped her arm closer to her side and sped up, leaving Mako next to one of the Omashu guards.

Seeing the attempt, the guard closest to Mako burst out laughing. The guard clapped Mako on the back. "Its okay, hotshot. There's plenty of other girls out there. Maybe it's best of us normal-folk don't get involved in Avatar matters."

"Yeah, but there's no one else like _her_." Mako mumbled.

The guard laughed again. "Sure there are! And they are men! I heard she's a feisty one. Probably because she lived her last two as a man. You're a fire-bender aren't you? Why don't you take the Transcontinental out to the Fire Nation and find yourself a hot-headed woman out there?"

Mako didn't respond. He just kept following and the guard didn't say much more.

Korra caught up to the guard leading the group and started small conversation with him. She learned the guard's names were LonLon and Igor and that they serve Earth King Bolo. She learned that they had been buddies since joining the force when they graduated from school and that they were both sandbenders.

"I'd love to learn sometime, if you don't mind." Korra said. "I haven't tried it yet though, but my earthbending isn't bad."

LonLon smiled. "I would be honored to, Avatar."

The group approached the palace. Several guards below the entrance bended a large platform above them from the actual entrance to serve as a lift. Igor motioned for them to get on, and when they were were ready, the guards bended the platform to the top where they locked it into place again.

Korra avoided eye-contact with Mako for the ride up, and chose to look at the view of the city from the lift instead. There was awkward silence between the two of them, but thankfully it only lasted a minute or so.

When the lift locked, Korra stepped off first and Mako followed. At the top, more guards were stationed, and the King sat on his high throne in front of them. King Bolo was an older man, probably at least fifty years of age. His hair hadn't even started to change color, probably because he lived such an opulent lifestyle. He had light brown eyes and a thin beard. He donned a golden crown and a green silk cape was crumpled behind him against his chair. His clothing was decorated by many fine jewels and he had jeweled rings on each finger. Mako strode up to the where the carpet ended and bowed. Korra did the same, except after bowing she sat cross-legged.

"Avatar Korra, how nice of you to see me!" King Bolo rose from his throne and began walking the small steps towards them. "I've been waiting since this morning when you entered the city to see you! We even had a breakfast prepared for you…I don't think I've ever felt so insulted!"

"Well why didn't you invite us to your palace right away then?" Mako was clearly annoyed.

Korra shot Mako a look. He shouldn't be talking out of turn to an Earth King. Mako ignored it and continued, "It's pretty stupid to prepare food for us and wait around for us if you didn't tell us about it! What did you expect?"

King Bolo frowned. "I expected proper manners, young man. I expected common courtesy from an outsider to wander from outside those walls into my city to show some gratitude. But I digress, the both of you are benders, so I expect you understand where I am coming from."

"_Your Highness_," Mako started mockingly, "When we entered your walls we were nearly mugged by some of your people—"

The King cut him off. "Vermin! Do you see what non-benders are like? They lie, and they steal, and cheat to keep up with their superiors. I offer my own apologies for such a traumatic event. But I digress… Avatar Korra, how long do you plan on staying here?"

"Long enough to see the city completely with my own eyes, King Bolo." Korra answered.

King Bolo nodded. "I can grant you no longer than a month's stay within my walls, Avatar. Those commoners will become complacent with you around. However, you must promise never to repeat what you did at the market again. You are only adding fuel to the fire." The King took a sip from his golden goblet. "GUARDS! Show these guests their rooms."

Korra was surprised the King had already heard about that, but then she remembered the telegraph cables she had seen throughout the city. The king probably had quick access to information from guard reports. "_You are only adding fuel to the fire"._ _What did the king mean by that?_

Korra's room was beautiful. The bed was the largest bed she had ever seen. Stuffed with duck feathers, when Korra fell on top of it, it was probably the softest bed she had ever been on too. The curtains in the room were all blue matching the Southern Water Tribe beads, and fresh bread and fruits were placed on a small table. There were even small electric lamps that she could switch on and off. She could get used to this! She fell backwards onto the bed and looked up at the ceiling for a moment and wondered if this was how Asami lived every day. Her mind wandered to Republic City and she remembered her promise to Bolin about sending a telegram.

She looked around the room and found a fountain pen and some paper in the drawers next to the bed.

_Twenty-Eighth Day of Summer 170 ASC_

_Hey Bolin! How are you? I'm at King Bolo's Palace in Omashu getting the royal treatment. _

_Will be here for a month probably, let me know if you need me!_

_-Korra_

* * *

Bolin was relaxing in his new chambers reading the Republican Daily about Morgan Inc's acquisition of Future Industries. _I hope Asami is doing okay. _Bolin knew that Asami was going through a lot. His big brother dumped her to chase after Korra. Asami's father ruined the company and attacked her…. But when he saw the price: 200 million Yuan, Bolin almost choked on the grapes he was eating. The article discussed how Morgan would be releasing the newer Satomobiles a year earlier than planned to increase sales and rebuild their assets.

Bolin was amazed Asami was able to fetch such a ridiculous price. _Girls really always do get what they want. _

He heard a knock at his door and hopped out of bed.

A delivery boy from Eastern Union was outside his door. "Telegrams for you, Chairman Bolin." They boy turned around to walk away, but added, "Could I also get your autograph? Your match in the finals was super wicked!"

Bolin smiled. "Well normally, I can't. Y'know with all my sponsorships and everything, but just for today, I'll make an exception."

The kid handed Bolin a picture of an Earth disc and a pen. Bolin refused it. "No no kid, I can do you better than that." And Bolin earthbended a piece of rock from the road and with a great deal of concentration was able to etch some basic designs on the edges. "What's your name, kid?"

"Brodie."

Twenty minutes later Bolin traded Brodie an Earth Disc with the following engraving on the edges: "~_To one of my many fans, Brodie~ Bolin, 170 ASC Fire _Ferrets" for two telegrams_. _The boy thanked Bolin and hurried away.

Bolin stood at his door and unfolded the piece of paper. It was from Mako.

_28DoS, 170ASC_

_Bolin, I am going to travel to the Fire Nation to compete in the Fire Bending tournaments there. My travels with Korra wasn't what I expected. I am writing in case you want to join me. I hear their rules are different, but I know that you'd be able to compete with me if you want to come. Will wait for your word before heading out._

_-Mako_

Bolin walked inside and read Korra's also. He felt bad for his brother, but deep inside he felt guilty for feeling happy. _Mako already had Asami and she was beautiful, why did he have to go after Korra too? Guess my luck's changing! _Bolin went sat at his desk and wrote the telegrams he'd send the next morning. There were a lot of things he had to tell Korra and he wrote pages, but as for his brother, Bolin simply wished Mako luck on his journey.

* * *

Asami drove north. She took the keys to the last Satomobile and was on route 42 towards the Fire Nation. The good radio stations from Republic City didn't reach all the way out to where she was anymore. She tuned the dial until something audible came on.

"_AAAANNNDDD Representing the Fire Nation's Southeastern Precinct in the Fire-Bending preliminary trials we have the Flame Wheels! Scorcher on your left, Ladies and Gentlemen, Fireball in the center, and their main defense, Kappa Koji, from the Northern Water Tribes! Boys and girls, introducing last year's semi-finalists, the Electric Touch! Summer, on your left, she may be shockingly gorgeous, but the Flame Wheels best be careful about her lightning bending prowess! Zeus is in your center, and he looks all charged up, and last but not least we have Nikka as their water-defensive unit!" _

Asami was about to change the dial. _The benders are such a violent breed._ Her hand was about to turn it, but then the bell dinged for the round to begin.

"_The Flame Wheels are unleashing a fury flame balls! What a show, ladies and gentlemen! Who knew that Scorcher and Fireball were capable of unleashing three attacks at once! What an impressive display of ambidextrous ability and firebreath technique! It looks like Kappa Koji won't have to create any walls for some time now….Whats this? Oh wow, looks like we're in for a show! The Electric Touch definitely have faith in Nikka because they've formed a line behind her! Nikka is bending a huge waterwall! Boys and girls this is why they're called the Electric Touch! Look at the amount of electricity they are pouring into that water! Looks like the water can't hold any more charged ions! The Flame Wheels are trying desperately to evaporate the water, but Nikka is truly a master! She is restoring the steam back into the waterfall, what is Kappa Koji doing! He is trying to attack Nikka, but I'd say that is a mistake! He should definitely be trying to control that waterfall from Nikka, because… OH HERE WE GO! The waterfall is crashing down on to Tier 1! Kappa Koji tactfully retreats, but his teammates try to hold their ground. The electricity is far too much! K.O! They are knocked out! The referee has blown the whistle. Medics are coming onto the field to retrieve the downed Flame Wheels…A quick word about our sponsor here, now that we've got time. Be sure to book your summer getaway at Ember Island! Ember Resorts will has been the perfect getaway for friends and family! Oh No! It looks like the two flame wheels are in bad shape. Sorry folks, Kappa Koji has walked off the arena in defeat! Congratulations to the Electric Touches! They will be moving onto the next round of pre-lims moving on their way to qualify for the pro-bending games held by our very own Fire Empress, Lady Azuki. Moving on-" _

Asami turned off the radio and shifted into a lower gear. She didn't know any petrol stations nearby and had only a quarter tank left. She made a note to take the next eastern exit. She didn't want to take chances with fuel.

* * *

Noatak stormed into the Agni Kai Triad's pub. Their skooma speakeasy was hardly hidden, but was guarded by a burly man outside. The man had barely time to turn his head before Noatak blood-bended him frozen. "Not today, Fatso" said Noatak. "Today, I am going to have a word with your leader." Bon Ni and Cloud followed closely behind Noatak, making faces at the frozen guard.

Noatak caught the Agni Kai Triads in a round of poker. They all stood up.

"Which one of you is Boss Yugo?" Asked Noatak.

Several of the men laughed. And one of them spoke up, "Why should we tell you, buddy?" Another had a deep gruff voice, "Yeh, there's six uv us and one uv you."

Noatak smiled. He bloodbended them back into their seats and withdrew a sliver of blood from each of their hands and froze it into a small sharp icicle in front of them. Slowly, for dramatic effect, Noatak moved their hands over the icicle.

Noatak spoke. "You see? You could have saved yourselves a good amount of pain if you just answered."

And he forced each of their hands through the spike and released the hold on their blood a little so that they could yell in agony. When he heard enough, Noatak froze them again and asked again. "Which one of you is Boss Yugo?"

Bon Ni strode across the room and pointed slowly at each man, and Noatak released the holds on them when Bon Ni's finger was pointing at them. After three men gasped out, "Not I", the fourth man stood up clutching his still bleeding hand and came forth. "I am Boss Yugo. Whatever you want, I-I probably have. J-J-Just name it, please don't kill me!"

Still smiling, Noatak, walked closer to the group of men and said, "I trust none of you have ever had a heart attack. This is what it feels like." And Noatak froze the blood around their hearts completely for split second. The men all simultaneously clutched their chests, staggering. And Noatak continued, "And this is how your Boss will die!"

Boss Yugo's eyes widened and his breaths became rabid gasps for air. His body went into shock and some convulsions and half a minute later he was totally still.

The man with the gruff voice broke the silence. "Yer a demon!"

Noatak, still staring at Yugo's still body quietly replied, "No. I am a human, gifted by the angels, to bring forth a new era. And you all, have a chance to take part in it. Those of you who would like to help me, step forth and I will heal your mangled hands. Otherwise, you can enjoy the same fate as your late boss."

The men stepped forward and Noatak healed them using bloodbending rather than the traditional water-healing techniques. The men watched their hands in awe as blood became sinew and flesh. Their hands looked as good as new without a scar.

"Well I'll be damned!" One of them said.

"I've never even heard of healing this good."

"The man's a wizard!" Exclaimed another.

Noatak sat down at the poker table and poured himself a small glass of skooma.

"Now, tell me what you lot have been up to." He said. "While we do this…hm… Bon Ni and Cloud, collect those masks you've been making."

"Sir, yes sir!" Bon N and Cloud said in unison. They even did the salute and marched knee high out of the door chanting, "Left! Left! Left! Right, left!"

Noatak sighed. Even in this serious situation, the two still seemed to think they were in some part of a movie.


	9. Chapter 9

I'm very sorry that I haven't been posting once a week like I promised. This one is pretty long too- so I hope you will forgive me. I got a new job recently and traveled to New Zealand and Fiji for a spontaneous trip! I will try to make time for this!

Now back to the chaotic story of things happening in 170 ASC (After Sozin's Comet)

Oh. And... I didn't have a title for this chapter. PM me one! or any edits you think it needs... Very embarrassed that I spelled Appa's name incorrectly earlier.

10/17/2012

* * *

Chapter 9

Korra still wasn't done exploring the Omashu Palace. A couple days ago, she found Ombi in the stables and he was not getting along too well with the ostrich horses in there. He was eating all of their food on top of his own. Korra was especially curious of the dungeons where King Bumi had trapped Avatar Aang and his friends a century earlier. There were large amounts of Jennamite cultivated still in the dungeons in King Bumi's honor.

This morning when Korra tried to leave the castle, she was told she had had to be accompanied by at least two guards. Reluctantly, she agreed. She hadn't seen Mako much since they were shown their rooms, but he seemed to be doing well.

She saw him at breakfast trying to persuade King Bolo to hold a Pro-Bending event.

"It is a great sport! Republic City and the Fire Nation already have their own leagues." Mako said.

King Bolo didn't seem too interested. "Why should benders provide entertainment for the useless?"

"Well, the sport isn't merely for the audience, _Your Highness_, You can showcase Omashu's strength in the Finals if you stake tournaments with the other nations. And I'm sure if you host your own league with Earth-Bending rules, Earthbenders from everywhere would give Omashu attention."

"Interesting…" King bolo stroked his beard.

Mako looked up, but quickly looked away when he saw Korra.

Korra left before she heard the rest of the conversation. Outside in the city Korra noticed that almost all the citizens were Earthbenders. It seemed as if all of Omashu were benders! Then she remembered the three kids who had attacked her and Mako when they first came into the city. There had to be non-benders, she just wasn't looking at the right time. She would wait until night and see what she could dig up on her own. The guards showed her the city market again, and she saw LonLon, the other city guard that had offered to teach her sandbending when she first got into the city.  
LonLon was charging his home battery for half a copper a minute from a lightning bender.

Korra walked up. "Hey!"

LonLon turned and smiled. "Good to see you, Avatar!"

"Do you think you have some free time later today? I would love to learn how to sandbend. Every time I try it, my sand clumps together…"

LonLon chuckled. "Of course! Swing by my place in about an hour or so. I live directly across from the Continental ticketing booth in 1314K. Gotta get this back to the wife so she can cook something delicious!"

Korra nodded. "Okay! I'll see you soon."

Korra turned back to her two bodyguards, but in the midst of her turn, she felt dizzy. Everything around her went black. Korra looked around, and saw the familiar setting of being in someone's mind. The horizon looked like circuitry, probably a complicated nervous system.

"Avatar. You disgust me."

Korra whirled around again and again. She couldn't find who said it. She started to wonder if she was within her own mind and questioned her own sanity.

Then, directly in front of her and below her knees, a purple translucent form of a baby in diapers touched her leg. It wasn't old enough to walk, but it seemed perfectly capable of doing just that. Well actually, it clearly wasn't old enough to talk either, but it already managed to do that.

It was clearly the same baby girl as the one in the market a couple days ago, except demented. Korra didn't know what to do. She tensed up and got into a fighting position.

"Oh? You are going to strike an infant are you? How heartless of you, Avatar."

Korra remained tense. "Where am I? How did you do this?"

"The first is quite obvious, Avatar. We are in my mind, Korra. Do you not recognize this realm? You were just here several days ago."

The infant walked and floated a little closer. The demonic image of the baby with stubby legs that could barely support its own weight and with a grin would haunt Korra forever. "As for your second question, Avatar, there are things you must see for yourself to understand."

The infant flashed flooded the room with memories from the past two days. The mother that begged Korra to give the infant powers had returned to a demolished home. The Omashu city guards crushed it with large stones and took her mother away for her crime. In the street, neighbors looked away with disdain at their fellow neighbor who had wished for a better future for her child. Another memory flashed by, the non-benders were free to roam the streets after dark. The whole city was a different place at night! But Korra was feeling the memory through the infant, and she could only feel cold and hungry and alone. A guard loomed overhead and picked up the crying baby.

"You see, Korra, when you entered my mind, it was still developing… and still _should _be developing. But then you opened that Ki gate. Your only thoughts while opening that gate was to stop my crying, to stop my irrational drives and motives, and you opened the only gate that a non-bender has- My own life energy gate had no defense covering it yet, and you went ahead and opened it."

The infant sighed, and plopped down sitting with its little legs extended towards Korra.

"Do realize what you've done, Avatar?"

Korra thought she might know, but shook her head. "I can cut off the supply of KI back, if that's what you want?"

"And smite me back to retardation? Look at me, Korra. I am a sentient creature that will never be accepted by your society. As much as I'll yearn for acceptance, I will not forego my own existence! I only have a couple of years to live at most. The Ki that has been pouring into the structuring of my mind will be gone before I'm the age of five."

"So you will die?" Asked Korra.

The baby rolled its eyes. "Yes, Avatar. Yes, I will die before I'm five.

Korra muttered a Southern Water Tribe curse under her breath. _How did she mess up so bad?_ She wanted a way to fix this mess, but really couldn't come up with a solution. She looked at the baby's creepy large eyes and didn't know how to address it. "Do you have a name?"  
"I'm sure my mother named me, but she never used it while I became sentient. But you can call me Jade. My mother always wore that green jewel around her neck."

"Okay Jade, what did you bring me here for? I tried my best following your mother's wishes."

"Not 'what', Avatar. Why. I brought you here to show you suffering. Suffering of my own and the people like my mother. Those with power often overlook those without it, and I am here to show you some of that suffering. If you ever need to be reminded of suffering, I am at that enormous palace. They have milk and soft foods there an infant like me can eat."

With that, the strange room around her started to spin. It spun faster and faster and then everything was still.

Absolutely still. (Author Note: LOL. Sorry guys. came across a magic tree house book)

Korra opened her eyes. There was a crowd around her at the Marketplace.

"Do we tell the king?"

"What do we tell 'im? We went to go buy skooma, and find th' Avatar knocked out?"

"Naw, we tell 'im it wassa 'Temporary Heat Exhaustion'. I heard mah Auntie pass out from that un b'fore!"

Korra rubbed her aching head and asked, "What time is it?"

Someone answered, "An hour until supper, Avatar."  
_Strange. Had no time passed?_She still had an hour to before her sand-bending lesson. She thanked everyone who had given her space and asked directions to the Eastern Union. She wanted to check if Bolin sent anything and needed some space to think about what the heck just happened.

The Eastern Union building wasn't hard to find. It was a large brick building at the edge of the market block overlooking the the city fountain. It's bright red bricks stood out against the beige and green tinted buildings all over the palace city. Korra had no telegrams waiting for her, but instead, Bolin had mailed an entire package. Bolin sent an alarming cover letter that read:

_28th day of Summer 170 ASC_

_Korra,_

_Attached are important documents that haven't been made public. International tensions are extremely high right now, and you should be careful in the Earth Kingdom! No trace of Noatak's body was found in the wreckage, though Tarrlock is dead. Interrogation of other Equalists reveal a broader movement across all nations. Northern Water Tribe facing depression that could bring down the rest of the world's economy! Ba Sing Se's only heir, Ling Fernando, is about to take the throne this coming year. Omashu beefing up security, scared about revolution. Republic City trying to control of military expenditure from all nations so that no nation is too powerful. Ba Sing Se has a large unknown project out east. Fire Nation is re-claiming land from their citizens to help pay the war debts from the last 100-year war. I know this is a lot of crazy things, but it's all in these documents I mailed you. Stay safe, Korra._

_Sincerely,_

_Bolin_

Korra had to re-read that cover letter several times. Each new sentence was one alarming thought after another. Just an hour earlier, all she wanted to do was learn how to sandbend, and now… it seems as if the world dug itself into a mess and needed some saving! Oh well, she really needed to start somewhere, and sand bending was definitely a good step. She handed the large parcel of documents to one of the two guards taking a sip of skooma and asked him to deliver it back to her room. She kept the cover letter Bolin wrote.

Korra made her way over to the Contintental station and found 1314k.

LonLon was outside in his tiny garden. He welcomed Korra and introduced her to his wife. Then, he led her to his tiny little backyard which was probably the same size as the front. They chatted a little bit, and LonLon brought out a conch shell.

Korra looked at him. "What do I do with this?"

"Take a look at the end of this shell. There is a very tiny hole at the tip. Your task is to thread this bucket of sand…" and LonLon pointed to an enormous pot—hardly a bucket. "...from this large front end… to the tip."

_Damned Turtle-Lions. Another patience exercise. _Korra sat down and got to work right away. She started with the first grain of sand… and moved it through the winding pattern of the shell. The shell was smooth and the grain glided along nicely.

"Good good!" Said Lonlon. "Now, when you start the first piece. Wait a couple seconds, before pulling a 2nd piece through!"

Korra did exactly that, and since the shell had a physical barrier, found it extremely easy to get both pieces out at two different times.

But, Korra was still unsure about herself. "But LonLon, what about large amounts of sand? There is no way anyone can keep up with all the sand flying everywhere!"

LonLon just smiled. "Oh you'd be surprised… Just keep working on that Avatar, and I'll check back on you after dinner!"

Korra spent a full hour slowly adding more grains of sand after one another until she had a full string continuously flowing, but it was too slow. Frustrated, she crammed the entire shell full of sand and tried to force more through, but it was useless. The sand just got stuck. The only way she could make the process go faster was if she could move the sand away from the tiniest bottleneck. She gave up and started to cheat by using air techniques to suck sand out. There was no way she would be finishing the bucket anytime soon. She got up.

LonLon was inside at the dining table opened the backdoor to let Korra in. "Finished already?"

Korra nodded glumly.

"Haha, well I will show you right after dessert! Would you like any?"

Korra's face brightened. "Yes! What is it?"

"This year's batch of Moon Cakes! A little early for the autumn festival, but my wife has already started making many of them!"

Korra nodded furiously.

LonLon's wife came out with two cakes. They were deliciously sweetened with honey and nuts and seeds that Korra couldn't recognize. She never had a freshly made one before! They were definitely better than the fish ones that she got from the Water Tribe.

Then Korra remembered the warning that Bolin had sent her about a possible revolution in Omashu. She brought it up with LonLon.

"Hey LonLon, do you know anything about a revolt."

LonLon's eyes went into a squint and he eyed Korra carefully. "Can't tell if serious… or trap…" He murmured. "You mean a revolution, right, Korra?"

"Yes, a revolution."

"or did you mean, THE revolution?"

"A revolution." Korra warily returned.

"An Omashu revolution? Or THE Omashu revolution?"

"What?"

"Oh… okay. I don't know anything either. All the guards are on high alert though…" LonLon sighed. "It seems as if King Bolo is very paranoid. Anyways, lets show you how to sandbend."

Lonlon went outside and moved the sand bucket far behind him. Then drawing the entire lot of sand from the bucket, he moved all the sand around as if it were water. The sand flowed in a ball as if something were mixing it. Then, he left the conch shell on the backyard table and began to accelerate a small stream of sand extremely quickly. So quickly that it was creating a high-pitched hum around them. He create a jet-stream of sand and masterfully navigated the sand through the conch. The stream of sand was moving so fast that it shot from the conch shell to the wall of the house after it exited. If anything got between that stream of sand and the shell, it would get cut! Within ten minutes, all the sand had gone through the seashell.

Korra was amazed. "That was incredible, Lonlon!"

"Haha no no, I still have a ways to go. I cheated a little bit." LonLon picked up the shell and pointed at the tip and a small amount of white powder that didn't exist before. "My sand bending isn't perfect and I've worn down the tip of the shell. Towards the end I was probably moving five times the amount of sand through this than before."

"Still, that was amazing. Do you mind if I come by tomorrow for practice?"

"No, not at all!"

Korra thanked LonLon, and headed back to the castle. She thought of the baby, Jade and wondered how the guards were dealing with a talking purple baby.

* * *

Bon Ni was still excited. They had been in the warehouse for a couple days now, and there were so many masks that she and Cloud had worked on. "What fun! If everyone wears one of these, hide and seek in the city will be the best game ever!" She put one on her face and strapped one over Cloud's too.

Cloud's voice gave away his excitement too. "I know! Just think, now everyone will look just as good as me when I have the mask on!"

"Yes! You're right! The average face just got much prettier!"

"Of course I'm right. When boss rules the city, I hope he makes it a law to wear funny masks like these."

"You know, Cloud, they say when your face is hidden, you are the most like yourself!"

"I know, Milady… and that is exactly why we have enough masks for everyone in this town here and more! Everyone can be just as happy as we are."

Then Bon Ni frowned, but Cloud couldn't see it. Bon Ni just now realized they would be in the warehouse for a long time…


	10. Chapter 10: THE Omashu Revolution

Noatak reviewed the count that Bon Ni and Cloud had delivered him. It was early morning and the sun had barely come up, but the city pigeons were already cooing away.

Fifteen thousand masks and several hundred more. He at first he thought wrong, but he stole another glance at the duo and concluded they were the sort to do the ridiculous. Bon Ni was modeling two different masks at the same time. To make it more absurd, each mask seemed a little unique in its own way. Cloud and Bon Ni would've done well in fashion or tailoring for the noble folk.

With this many masks Noatak could have one delivered to each shanty house of the cobble district and still have ample left over for the market district. Noatak gave orders on how the masks should be distributed and charged the Agni Kai members with the parcel deliveries.

Noatak carried a box of masks himself to the marketplace and bought himself two mangos for breakfast whilst wearing one himself. Soon the entire marketplace looked like a masquerade and there were some nobles from King Bolo's court that asked where they could buy some.

Noatak took his leave and bought himself two mangos for breakfast. He would need to wait for all his followers to enjoy the festivities. He took a bite from one, and spit it out. It was sour.

It wasn't until late afternoon when all the masks had been delivered and Bon Ni, Cloud, and the triad met him in the marketplace. By this point, some people weren't wearing their mask anymore, but donned them by their sides. It didn't matter.

He blood bended the nearest guard making extra caution to forcefully move each muscle like a normal person would. It took extra work to control the various muscles in the guard's facial expression, but it was more work than it was worth. Noatak marched the guard towards the merchant who sold him the unripe mangos earlier. He moved the guard's hand to his belt, unsheathed the small dagger by his belt, and dug it deep into the merchant's belly as the merchant was advertising his mangos. "Mangos! Mangos! Sweet Mang-"

The merchant looked down at his belly and screamed. For a second, the entire marketplace seemed to be still. And Noatak forced a stretched and bloody smile onto the guard's face.

Then someone exclaimed, "Turtle-Lions have mercy!" When Noatak blood-bended another guard into a poultry stall knocking over shelves of eggs. Bon Ni took her cue and ran out, "Death to the guards!" Cloud and the Triad followed all in their masks… and each inciting violence.

The other villagers put on their masks and joined as the other guards came pouring into the marketplace.

* * *

Korra was returning from Lon Lon's from another's day practice when all hell broke loose. She was used to tense situations, but usually it was easy to identify who was the bad guy. The market place was bloody with crushed bodies as guards attacked one another and the villagers attacked with hoes and sharpened kitchen knives. Korra formed a wall slab and moved it behind her as she cautiously made her way back to the Castle. She saw several bodies with cartoonish masks on.

A sudden cry came from her right between two shops. A guard was cornered by four villagers. Korra raced over and unplugged her canteen drawing some water. She froze the shovel to the nearby wall as a villager wound up for a strike.

"Its the Avatar!" One of the villagers remarked. The others put down their weapons.

Korra turned to the guard and was about to ask if he was alright, but heard a loud rumbling and saw the man in a bending position as if he were lifting something huge. She whirled and shrieked, "NOOO!"

But it was too late. A huge section of the wall ripped over and crushed the four villagers that were standing behind her.

"WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!" Korra lifted the rubble but the villagers were crushed.

The guard shrugged. "They attacked me and they got what they deserved."

Korra was angry. She ripped the air from the guard's lungs causing them to collapse and held the air in his throat. The man clawed at his throat with his left hand and grabbed his chest with his right.

"Now you got what _YOU_ deserved." Said Korra.

The man fell limp.

Korra hoped Lon Lon was okay. He was part of the guard also. She retraced her way back to 1314K stepping over bodies and broken carts along the way. She sprinted her way across the Continental tracks when she heard the WHOOSH of a firekick up ahead.

She turned the corner and saw LonLon and yelled, "LonLon!"

The guard's slab wall came up a full second too late as he turned to see Korra and Mako's flame ate his face away. Behind Mako were a dozen children with masks on, most likely the orphans that had tried to rob them when they first got to the city.

Korra almost sobbed, but turned stoically to Mako and pointed at LonLon's charred face. "He was a friend."

Mako shook his head, and said, "These kids wanted revenge. A couple of them already failed by the time I came along, Korra- your friend was killing kids."

Then Korra noticed the pack on his back. "You're leaving?"

"Yeah… I should've said something. But, things just got a little weird, and I thought it better if I just left."

"Oh… Where are you going?"

"Heading off to the fire nation. I think it'll be good to get back to the roots, and I hear the pro-bending is even fiercer for fire-benders there."

Korra nodded, and stepped closer to give Mako a quick hug. It was weird in front of these kids.

She turned to the kids and with a large air blast, knocked most of the masks off. "If you have a home. GO HOME. Otherwise you can stay with me, and I will try to get back safely to the castle."

None of them took a step. The tallest one spoke for them. "Avatar, we don't have a home."


	11. Chapter 11: The Continental

Even driving at the most efficient pace, Asami couldn't find a petrol station anywhere. She hopped out of the Satomobile and gave the front tire a swift kick. They always did that in the movies. Nothing happened, so Asami reached in the backseat and grabbed her pack and attached the electrified glove to her belt. The road followed the Continental tracks, and she knew if she followed that it would take her straight to towards the Abbey port where she could catch a barge towards the Ember Isles. She didn't take any of the boats from the city just in case Morgan had enough influence to delay the ships when he knew how much money he was out. Asami could see the Abbey in the horizon and was not worried about her provisions.

Every couple of hours the the trains would run by in both directions and Asami noted that the train going to the Earth Kingdom was always packed. Not a lot of people was going her way. It soon got dark and Asami made camp in-between two large crags and a small cactus. She hacked two sides of the prickly cactus off and nicked all the thorns off. Then she put on her electrified glove and gave both of them a nice long zap. Fried prickly pear didn't taste too bad.

Asami loved the outdoors. Living luxuriously was nice, but it was too easy. Finding a good spot to sleep and knowing how to fend for herself gave her great satisfaction. Asami drifted off to sleep with a smile on her face underneath the starry night.

Asami woke from a low rumble from something far away. But something else was wrong. Asami kept her eyes closed and tried to continue to take long breaths as if she were still asleep. It smelled like smoke. Asami leapt up and grabbed her electrified glove expecting camp robbers, monsters, or worse. But, about 15 meters away another family had set up camp and left a smoldering campfire dying. It wasn't until the wind blew the smoke towards her that she had noticed. Asami gave her herself a mental slap. _If they had been what I thought they were, it would've been game over for me… _

Asami crawled on all fours for a sneak peek at who her companions were. They were villagers with dirty tunics probably from the Fire Nation. There were two boys around the ages of ten or twelve and a mother and father. She checked what they had for dinner, and saw only a single can of beans. Their provisions bag looked rather empty.

Asami reached into her own bag and pulled out a sealed portion of salted ham. She gently tossed it over to their provision bag and crawled back onto her mat. She made a point to get up early and head towards the Abbey Port before her guests woke.

* * *

Bolin had heard enough from the Council. Omashu needed help to restore order, but the Council couldn't agree on a single thing. King Bolo had sent two telegrams in the same day asking for help to restore his kingdom. Personally, Bolin believed that if the people revolted, it was about time for a change in power anyways. However, Karthus was quick to suggest that they send General Bumi for King Bolo's aid. Tenzin suggested that the honor be given to the Northern Water Tribe. They were in debt and needed an economic stimulus, Tenzin said.

Nobody talked about why the revolution was happening.

By 5pm it was agreed that the council would wait until the next day to see how things played out before deciding on their next move. All King Bolo sent were three words in each telegram: "_Exterminate My Citizens_" and "_Kill Them All_". It was as if King Bolo wanted genocide.

Bolin sighed and walked wearily to his office. He wondered why Ba Sing Se hadn't answered to any of King Bolo's distress calls. Perhaps they were involved with revolution also? Republic City was lucky that they had Korra to rid themselves of Noatak's 2nd identity, Amon. If there were monsters like Noatak in each of these cities, The 4 nations were in big trouble, but Bolin knew that Noatak had be to seriously injured from their last encounter. If anything at all, these recent occurrences were likely the work of some fervent Equalists carrying out Noatak's will.

Then Bolin noticed the large envelope sitting on his desk from the Fire Temple of Avatar Roku. Bolin ripped the seal apart and hastily read the message. The monks wrote:

43rd Day of Summer 170 ASC,

_Members of R.C Council,_

_Please heed our warnings. There is a large exodus of travelers fleeing the Fire Nation since a tax was levied on non-benders. The Fire Nation's army grows each day back to it's former military strength from the Hundred Year's War. We do not think Empress Zmiah plans to continue to pay war debts or hold truce with the other nations much longer. Should this letter fall in the wrong hands, the monks of the Fire Nation are ready to defend the Avatar. _

_Monk Sozin the III_

Bolin didn't want to debate any further. It would honestly be a week before any real decision was made, and he needed direct answers. Bolin picked up his telegram line and tapped a message directly for General Iroh and his fleet to check the Fire Nation's war inventory and confirm the numbers of the exodus.

His head hurt from all the thinking. He wanted things to go back to what they were just months ago when Korra, Asami, and his brother just roamed Republic City anxious for adventure. Now, all he had was Pabu, and even then, the Fire Ferret was too busy enjoying the luxurious lifestyle to comfort him. Bolin glanced over at Pabu asleep on his soft feather basket and Pabu looked over back at Bolin instinctively. Then, after a quick look, Pabu hopped over into Bolin's arms and fell asleep there.

At least Pabu will always be there for him.

* * *

It hadn't cost as much as he anticipated to get out to the Fire Nation. Mako only offered a third of his Yuan, and he still got a ticket on the Continental and change back. It seemed that the fares to the Earth Kingdom were almost ten times higher than that going to the Fire Nation. He flashed his ticket to the conductor wearing all white and was shown his seat and offered some skooma. He was definitely in luck.

He had an entire booth to himself and he took the seat closest to the window. The scenery was beautiful as the train moved from the Earth Kingdom coastline northwest towards the Fire Nation. Every so often Mako thought he could make out Republic City in the distance, but he wasn't sure if he was seeing things or not, because he was drifting in and out of sleep. At one point he thought he saw a beautiful girl walking alone by the tracks, but then the announcement came over the PA of the train.

"Attention guests. The train is being subjected to for a quick unscheduled maintenance as per request from the Fire Nation engineers. Please stay seated and forgive us for the unexpected delay."

Fire Nation folks. They probably know how I can into the pro bending arenas there. Mako hopped out of his seat and made his way to the front of the train. There was a sign that said, "Steam Room Ahead, Conductors and Trained Staff Only" but that didn't stop Mako. What did stop him was that the door was locked to the train control room. Mako knocked several times, but nobody opened the door. Frustrated, he shouldered the door lightly, and he stumbled into the control room.

Three bulky looking Fire Nation "engineers" looked at him while the conductor was tied up with hands behind his back on the floor. There were explosives planted all around the room. Mako took another step into the room and a fourth "engineer" closed the door behind him.

"Get him boys. Make sure you don't blow us up though." Said the one tying up the conductor.

Two of the guys charged at him from either side and Mako dealt the one on the left a swift kick to the chest knocking the air out of him. Mako stooped low after his kick, and swept his leg underneath the man coming from the right. The man fell hard on his back and Mako gave him a solid punch in the face once he fell just to be sure he'd really be down for the count. From behind, the man that closed the door grabbed Mako and started strangling him, but Mako generated a strong course of lightning in his left and right hands and reached backwards. His left hand found the man's ear and his right, found…. the guy's butt. A strong dose of electricity incapacitated the man and the strangler slumped to the ground.

Mako whirled around to see who else was left, but the man that was tying the conductor held a large pack of the explosives in his hand.

"Give it up kid. You'll end up hurting a lot of innocent people if you keep going at the rate you're going."

Mako snorted. "Innocent? You guys don't look innocent."

"The passengers, kid. We'll let everyone off this train right here. All we want is the Red Arched Bridge. Empress Zmiah's orders to blow it sky high."

Mako was surprised. This would be an act of war, but there were too many innocent people on the train. He was beat.

Mako raised his hands. "Okay you win, let me get all the passengers off the train. Deal?"

The Fire Nation "engineer" nodded his head and reached over for the PA. Mako took several steps towards the door and heard the hijacker over the PA. "This is your new conductor speaking. You are now all hostages on this train. You are welcome to panic..." That was followed by a hearty laugh, but before Mako could turn around, something hit him in the back of the head. Before Mako fell to the floor, the train started moving again.


	12. Chapter 12: The White Lotus Moves

Author's Note: Hey guys! If you find any mistakes please message me about them! I plan on making some edits to keep the beginning chapters consistent with the rest of the timeline. Reviews are also always nice to read!

* * *

General Iroh increased the magnification on his binoculars surveying the walls that surrounded him. There were no signs of his teams. He had sent two teams of three out on recon to deliver an S.O.S message back to Republic City, but had not heard word from them since. They were most likely captured or worse. Iroh looked at the his men on deck. Most were grim and thin. Their supplies would barely last them for the rest of the week.

He didn't know when the walls crept up on them, but this definitely required a very skilled team of earthbenders. Huge slabs of clay and sand had risen out of the sea and surrounded his three ships before they had gotten to the peninsula.

General Iroh had a simple mission, "To investigate the wall and the concentration camps southeast of Ba Sing Se." Iroh didn't know how much bigger the wall was, but the massive box that trapped them was definitely impressive. His fire blasts had no impact on the walls, but hardened the mixture of earth and clay further. To make matters worse, Iroh suspected that not only were there four walls that surrounded his ships, but that there was a large sheet of earth trapping them underneath the ships also. He had seen the same groups of fish surrounding his boats since he noticed the wall.

He decided to wait one more day. Hopefully one of the teams who had scaled the wall would make it back. If they didn't, his plan would require more drastic measures and Iroh really didn't want to lose another ship. His three battleships were the only remains from the Republic City skirmish.

* * *

Korra led the orphans through the city streets behind a slab of ice. She initially started with a slab of earth, but twice another Earth bender attempted to rip the slab from her control. With ice, it was much more difficult for them to attack. Korra had no idea why they were attacking her and she meant to get to the bottom for this meaningless violence right away. The masks that many of the non-benders were wearing made many of them reckless. She saw groups charging at guards with homemade weapons yelling, "Death to King Bolo!" The guards rallied with their orders, "KILL THEM ALL!"

Korra hopped onto the ancient mail chutes and made a crute cart of earth. Then she sand-bended all the debris around her much like how she would air bend. She created a torrent of dirt around the cart and pulled all the children up the chute towards the castle. It was an exhausting feat. She kept envisioning the excercise that LonLon had taught her just days ago. Every so often something would smash into her shield of debris, and Korra would add it to the vortex. On top of that, there must have at least 15 kids, and they weighed so much for skinny, malnourished children.

Korra made note that she ought to weight train a little more.

When they made it to the top, Korra breathed a sigh of relief and dropped the earth/sand debris shield.

Behind her, two of Bolo's personal guard appeared.

"Avatar Korra! We cannot allow these non-benders on the premises. King Bolo's orders! He wants them all killed!"

Korra gave the two a hard look. "They will stay here until I knock some sense into the king. Would you rather fight me, guard?"

The two guards looked at each other and shook their heads.

"Good. For the moment, you no longer protect little Bolo. Remember, Bolo can't beat the crap out of you, but I can. You're gonna protect these kids with your life, otherwise I will have yours. Is that understood?"

The guards stammered, "Y-Yes, Avatar!"

Korra grinned and went searching for this idiot of an Earth King.

* * *

Noatak spit on the fool's face. "Tell me again, what makes you think you are like me?"

King Bolo was on his knees against his own will. When Noatak released his hold on the pathetic king, he still stayed on his knees and made no attempt to get up.

Bolo tried to gather his train of thought, but his exasperation prevented a clear flow. "The perfec-We both want a better... I'm creating a better world-like you." King Bolo paused. "We both want a better world, Noatak, but I stand on the other spectrum. The non-benders create too many problems...You... tried to eliminate all the benders."

Noatak leaned backwards onto the throne and sat thoughtfully at the elementary idea. "Haha, so you think you are my equal on your spectrum of ideals, is that it?"

Bolo recognized the trap and carefully conceded, "No, no, Noatak, not your equal, but someone who shares the idea of a perfect society..."

Noatak shook his head solemnly. "I think we have a rather large disagreement on what the perfect world really is then, don't we King Bolo?" He paused. "And if we are both pursuing something for different means, won't that mean that we are competitors?" Noatak didn't wait for an answer. "You see, my perfect world has no need for your silly guards and no need for your bothersome insecurities... because I am not incompetent like you. What are your powers if you truly possess nothing... extraordinary?"

And with that, Noatak placed his thumb on King Bolo's forehead and froze the Ki gateway. King Bolo fainted just as Korra walked into the room.

* * *

Barrels of perfume produced from the original Abbey left a sweet lingering smell around the port. Even though most of the barrels were sealed, just a drop of the scent was enough for Asami to notice a hundred meters away. Asami watched as ships loaded with different aromas were stacked onto ships by a mechanized crane.

Asami asked a local merchant how much a barrel was for casual conversation.

"25,000 Yuan a barrel, Miss... would you like a sample?"

Asami smiled, "No, Thank you, I actually have some at home as a gift, I was just curious."

The truth was that Asami had paid 1,000 Yuan earlier for a small bottle in Republic City. She guessed that each barrel could easily make 500 bottles of what she bought. The inhabitants of this city must enjoy a lucrative way of life. Asami asked for a good ramen shop and made her way towards the restaurants of Abbey Port.

Abbey Port was a very new city and looked cleaner than Republic City. They exported tons of perfume and always ran ferries across the narrowest portion of the Mo Ce Sea to the sandy beaches of Shu Jing. Asami planned to take a ferry from Shu Jing and buy a cheap Morgan Motorcycle to cross the bridges from the eastern Ember Isles into the mainland Fire Nation. Asami knew that Morgan produced more vehicles out west than her Father did.

Asami got to the ramen shop and ordered. It was a quaint little restaurant with Pai Sho boards in the center of the tables and a small dedicated corner on Asami's right for her bowl of noodles. Asami was setting up the pieces on the board just toying with the pieces while she ate her ramen by herself when a student from the Order of the White Lotus appeared.

"Would you mind an opponent?", he asked.

"No, not at all. Take a seat."

And Asami played for little over an hour, beating the student wearing the White Lotus cowl time after time. After a while, her opponent conceded when she managed to place her White Lotus tile in the center by creating a harmonious pattern even after all the discord her opponent was placing.

He said, "You are very skilled. Let me get my the master."

Asami nodded. She ordered herself some iced skooma and watched others at the restaurant play.

A woman dressed in a brown hooded tunic took a seat in front of her.

"Miss Sato! How nice of you to come visit us!"

Asami wasn't sure if she knew who this person was.

Asami asked, "Who are you?"

The woman removed her her hood and grinned, "-I am Kya. Daughter of the late Avatar Aang. Would you mind an opponent?"


	13. Chapter 13: The Declaration of War

Mako's head was throbbing. The compartment was extremely hot, and it looked as if all the passengers had crowded into the same car. Mako got up and tried the door. It was melded in. Mako was about to blast it, but everyone on the train panicked.

"Don't do that, sir! You'll blow us to oblivion!" Someone said.

"There are explosives on the other side!" A woman in fancy clothes explained.

Mako looked outside the window. In the distance he could see the Red Arched Bridge that ran along the cliffs towards Abbey Port. There wasn't much time left. Mako wrapped his father's scarf around his fist and punched the Window. When most of the shards were gone, he pulled himself up to the top of the train. The puffs of steam from the font of the train made it hard to see exactly how many compartments he was away from the front, but he was close.

Mako climbed towards the explosives strapped to the door. They were just sticks of gunpowder tied to the door. Mako untied the explosives from the door and climbed up towards the next compartment. He couldn't stand on top of the train from all the wind, but he crawled his way over and dropped down to where the compartment link was. Mako tried unhooking the cart, but the link refused to budge. So using the rope and sticks of gunpowder he just got, he wrapped it around the link, hopped on top of the next compartment , and gave it the biggest fire kick he could bend. The explosion was enormous and Mako thought it accelerated the train, or at least the half that he was on. The other half was slightly derailed and it slowed to crushing stop within seconds.

Mako checked the horizon. He only had about a minute left until they hid the bridge. It's a shame I spent all that Yuan on a ticket that won't even take me to Abbey Port. He climbed down into the next compartment and the door to the conductor's room opened. Two guys advanced towards him holding explosives in either hand.

"Not another step, hero!" Said the hijacker on the right.

Mako froze. He eyed both of them and raised his arms.

"Good! We're alm-" Started the guy on the left, but Mako didn't let him finish. Mako unleashed a huge wave of flame that started from his raised palms towards the open door in the conductor's room.

The guys who had come to greet him jumped sideways in horror, keeping their arms away from the flame, but turned just in time to see the explosion melt their faces away.

The force of the explosion ripped through the speeding train, but Mako had prepared himself for it. To battle the oncoming force, Mako poured even more power into the a giant flame he had sent towards the conductor's room. Things happened in slow motion, and Mako could see the windows being ripped out one by one as it got closer to him. He yelled and exerted every bit of energy he had against the explosion, and when the wave hit him, it felt like a little splash touched his face. Then, the door he was leaning against creaked and he was flying backwards. Mako exerted the energy towards the floor and he was flying backwards and... up? He was really flying just like how General Iroh was doing...Well, the moment ended because Mako was completely out of energy. Mako bounced a little and rolled a little onto the grass. He knew had saved an important bridge, but Mako didn't want to look through the rubble to find what remained of that conductor who had welcomed him onto the train.

* * *

Korra's heart jumped. Across the room, Noatak stepped over the slumped body of King Bolo and he flexed both his fists.

"AVATAR!" He snarled. "You have gotten in the way quite enough!"

Korra could feel the blood bending start within her and she panicked. She exhaled all the air in her lungs and propelled herself as far back from Noatak as possible. Yet, even as she ran in the other direction, she could feel his presence behind her.

"You won't get far!" echoed throughout the hallway as Korra slid from one room to the next.

His reach was ridiculously far. At this distance, she could barely bend a drop of water, and yet here he was exerting a special bending type across the castle corridors as if he were just a couple steps behind her.

Korra stumbled twice as Noatak managed to get a grab on her legs while she was sprinting, but the bloodbender couldn't keep the grip.

Korra ran into a bedroom, closed the doors and hid. Her hands were shaking from where she the blood-bending started. It was an eery tingly feeling like trying to walk on a foot that has fallen asleep, yet it was in her hands. She knew that Noatak would have complete control of her if she had waited a second longer.

Then from behind her a ghostly whisper spoke her name. "Korra."

Korra whirled around with fire in her fist about the give the her intruder a beatdown to its face but she almost had another heart attack when she saw Jade.

The baby was sitting upright on a bed too large for itself and staring at Korra with large piercing eyes.

"You are always ready to fight me, Avatar." It said. "Do I frighten you that much?"

"There's someone really dangerous in this castle. We have to hide!" Korra was still tense. "He can blood-bend!"

"Oh, so Amon is alive?" The baby asked rhetorically. "The newspapers I get still rave about Equalist activity, it would make sense he still lives."

The feeling of urgency wasn't in the room, and it made Korra even more nervous. "If you know who he is, why aren't we running out of here?"

The baby's laugh was almost cherubic and yet more condescending. "Avatar, you've made me an abomination, but still my Ki flows through me so powerfully that I am more like an ethereal being. I am more life energy than blood and bones. You've lucked out finding me, because I can feel his energy searching for you, but my presence will mask you."

Korra breathed a sigh of relief and gave thanks to any spirit that helped her find a safe location.

Jade snorted. "Don't count your eggs just yet, Avatar. Who knows, Amon may come searching for you himself, or maybe I'll just start wailing and bring some attention here..."

Korra saw the blackmail. "What do you want, Jade?"

"Oh good, the Avatar wants to play." Jade smiled. "I want you take me wherever you go, Avatar. I only have a couple years in me, so I'd like to see as much of the world as I can. The books in this bedroom is only enough to inspire a toddler."

Korra looked at the bookshelf and noted that it contained an entire chronicle of Avatar deeds as well as several encyclopedia volumes. She was reluctant. Jade was such a strange and disturbing thing, but she definitely had few options.

The Avatar nodded her head.

"I knew you'd understand, Korra."

* * *

"What will you spend all your money on, Miss Sato?" Kya asked while she deftly placed a Pai Sho piece onto the board.

Asami didn't like to lose, but this game was very closely matched. "I don't know, Lotus Master. I just need to see what my options are. Maybe all the perfume in this city?"

Asami carefully placed a tile onto the board, weighing all her options before letting her finger off the piece.

Kya replied, "Perfume is like a mask. It hides stench of what smells underneath."

Asami stopped playing. "Are there Equalist factions in this city too?"

Kya shook her head, but showed her hand. "Regrettably, no. We could actually use a few." Kya's remaining tiles ensured her victory of this match. There was no pattern Asami could make that that would even challenge her.

Asami conceded. "Well, I am keeping my options open. Show me what is underneath this city."

"Very well. Meet me by the harbor at midnight."

Kya got up from the table, bowed, and left the ramen shop. Asami followed her out the door, but lost sight of her in the crowd. Instead, Asami walked over to a nearby inn and checked herself in. For a couple of Yuan she got herself a small room and was given a note for the night's speakeasy.

While she was unpacking some of her pack and sorting out her dirty clothes to wash, a low rumble of an explosion rattled the window. In the distance, a huge billow of black smoke rose above the railroad tracks.

Asami's adrenaline surged, but she remained in the room. There was trouble brewing, and she had a feeling she was going to find out soon enough just what was going on.

* * *

Noatak opened his eyes. The Avatar's presence was gone. She must have frozen her own blood or something. He could feel the very rats within the walls of the castle and all their warm blood, but the girl had simply disappeared.

He frowned. Little tricks like this could become a hassle. Still, he had an agenda to keep. He didn't want to remain in Omashu, because it was within flying distance of Republic fighter planes. The city was built to withhold against land sieges, but an aerial attack would leave it rather defenseless.

Noatak summoned an Agni Kai member.

"You there. I have to leave for a couple days." Noatak picked up the little crown off of the floor near King Bolo's body. "What is your name?"

"The name's Magnus. Sir." The Agni Kai gangster looked terribly nervous.

"That is a good name. You are temporarily King Magnus." Noatak withdrew a slip of paper from his shirt pocket. "Here are a list of things I'd like for you to do while I am away. Do not disappoint me."

Magnus looked at the paper and back at Noatak. He did not feel kingly and he gulped. "Declare war, sir?"

Noatak smiled. "It may take some brawns, but I believe in you, King Magnus. Take good care of the city for me."

* * *

Bolin sat at his desk. He didn't even bother going to the council meeting. The city council could not agree on anything, and there were too many events happening at once to handle. It was easier to just stay at his desk, let any preliminary get decided, and if at least two people could agree on one thing, Bolin would head down to the table to discuss the matter further, but at the moment, it was useless. His time was better spent writing telegrams to his contacts to better gauge the magnitude of what was happening. Bolin's intuition reminded him that Noatak could still be alive, but there were other problems too. Even if Noatak was alive, there were many other factors to the problem that even the genius blood bender couldn't have a hand in.

General Iroh had not reported in and his fleet had been missing in action for over a week, Ba Sing Se's walls still haven't been checked, his brother hadn't contacted him since he left for the Fire Nation, a train was derailed going to the Fire Nation, a rebellion in Omashu, and the Northern Water Tribe's economy was on the brink of collapse. Bolin wasn't too worried about Mako, he knew his brother could take care of himself, but he did feel guilty that he had let his brother travel alone, and now that the train accident happened, he only hoped that Mako had been on a different train.

It was hard to stay optimistic given recent events.


End file.
